Scholarship tax credit program among issues still on the table with 3
legislative days remaining
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[November 02, 2023]
By HANNAH MEISEL
& ANDREW ADAMS
Capitol News Illinois
news@capitolnewsillinois.com
Lawmakers will return to Springfield next week for the second half of
their fall veto session, giving advocates of a tax credit program for
private school scholarships one last chance to push for its extension
before it’s set to expire at the end of the year.
The Invest in Kids program is scheduled to reach the end of its
five-year life on Dec. 31. The program, which launched in 2018, costs
the state $75 million annually in tax breaks for donors to private
school scholarship funds. Those funds awarded nearly 10,000 scholarships
last year.
Many Democrats in the General Assembly would like to see the program
sunset as scheduled, joining Illinois’ largest teachers’ unions in
calling it a backdoor voucher program. But some in the majority party –
especially those with large private school constituencies – have joined
Republicans in pushing for its renewal.
Gov. JB Pritzker’s position on the program has evolved since he first
ran for governor in 2018, when part of his campaign platform included
ending the scholarship program. Since then, he’s softened his stance at
various points, including last month when he said he’d be willing to
sign an extension of the program “in whatever form.”
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That remark provoked a strong rebuke from the state’s two largest
teachers’ unions, which accused Pritzker of siding with “anti-public
education Republican governors.”
At an unrelated event Wednesday, the governor’s tone toward the program
was ambivalent when asked about it, saying it’s up to the General
Assembly, and that “support for public education is really where my
focus is.”
“I’ve always said, you know, that we're not trying to prevent people
from going to private school, but I also believe in public education and
want to make sure that we're funding public education, to the extent
that that is possible,” Pritzker said.
He pointed out that the state has increased K-12 education by more than
$2 billion in the years since it passed the Invest in Kids Act as part
of a broader overhaul of the way Illinois funds public education.
The law’s built-in sunset means private school scholarship donors can’t
claim tax credits for their donations after Dec. 31, although current
recipients’ scholarships will still be valid through the spring
semester. If the three-fifths majority needed to pass legislation with
an immediate effective date during veto session proves too burdensome,
there’s a chance lawmakers could take up the issue again in the spring,
although the tax credit portion of the program would experience some
disruption.
Democrats in the House have proposed a compromise, House Bill 4194,
which would scale back the program to $50 million annually from $75
million, along with halving the largest possible donation tax to a
scholarship fund from $1 million to $500,000 and changing the tax credit
from the current 75 percent for all donations in order to incentivize
smaller donors. Democrats also want the scholarships to be more targeted
at students from low-income areas.
Senate Republican leader John Curran, R-Downers Grove, said in a news
conference Wednesday his caucus is prepared to see the program scaled
back for the sake of its survival, noting his GOP colleagues are
comfortable with “everything that’s in that proposal.”
“While we would like to see the program made permanent, we realize it’s
going to take compromise to get this program extended,” he said.
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A group of ultra-conservative lawmakers, however, called the House
Democrats’ proposal a “non-starter” in a recent news release, instead
preferring to extend and expand the program.
Bob Gilligan, executive director of the Catholic Conference of Illinois,
an advocate for the program, told Capitol News Illinois that he’s still
hopeful for Invest in Kids’ extension.
“There have been many fruitful conversations and with the clock ticking,
our message has been consistent: 9,500 kids are waiting for a decision,”
Gilligan said.
Other items on the General Assembly’s plate could be punted into regular
legislative session in January if they’re not addressed next week,
though advocates are still hopeful their issues can be dealt with during
lawmakers’ three-day stint in Springfield.
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A yard sign urging Illinoisans to contact their legislators to save
the “Invest in Kids” private school scholarship program is pictured
in Chicago last month. (Capitol News Illinois photo by Hannah Meisel)
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Elected Chicago School board
While most of the state has moved past a bitter partisan fight over
redistricting, one part of Illinois is still grappling with how best to
sort its population into voting blocs. In 2021, lawmakers approved a
measure that will transition the Chicago Board of Education from an
appointed body to one that is elected.
While proponents of the change have said the new policy is a
democratizing move, critics have eschewed past drafts as not being
representative of the population, echoing the fight over statewide
legislative maps last year.
The legislative committee responsible for devising and approving maps,
chaired by Sen. Kimberly Lightford, D-Maywood, released a new draft
Wednesday that features five majority-white districts, seven
majority-Black districts, 6 majority-Hispanic districts and two
districts with no majority.
“This new map better reflects the diversity of Chicago’s unique
neighborhoods, and we thank the many parents, educators and community
members whose guidance helped shape these district boundaries,”
Lightford said in a news release.
The final map will need to be approved by the legislature.
Chicago residents will vote for 10 members of the 21-person board in
November 2024 to serve four-year terms. The other 10 members and the
board president will be appointed until 2026, at which point voters
would elect their replacements.
Nuclear moratorium
In August, Gov. JB Pritzker vetoed Senate Bill 76, a bill that would
have lifted a state moratorium on nuclear power plant construction
originally passed in 1987.
Despite the veto, the policy still has a few possible routes to becoming
law, including via an override vote or as a new bill altogether.
“We feel like there’s a pathway during veto session,” Sen. Sue Rezin,
R-Morris, told Capitol News Illinois on Wednesday.
Curran said Wednesday he expects a bill on the subject to move next
week.
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“We know the votes are there in the Senate to pass the bill... And I
think the advocacy on the issue continues to be in the House and the
House will follow the Senate’s lead and pass the bill as well,” he said.
The governor explicitly pointed to a lack of safety regulations and
loose definitions in SB 76 in his explanation of the veto to lawmakers,
sentiments also expressed by environmental groups that lobbied against
the policy over the summer.
Legislative staff unions
The ball is now in the Senate’s court on an issue that has animated
debate among Springfield’s political staffers: unionization.
Last week, the House voted 74-35 to approve a bill, sponsored by Speaker
Emanuel “Chris” Welch, D-Hillside, that was prompted by his staff’s
efforts to unionize.
The would-be union’s organizers say they intend to bargain for better
wages, hours and working conditions.
While voters approved a constitutional amendment last year granting
Illinoisans a right to unionize, existing state law explicitly exempts
legislative staff from unionizing. Labor experts testified in committee
that the law change would be needed to allow staff to unionize due to
the amendment’s vague wording.
While the bill gained momentum in the House, Senate leadership kept
quiet on their plans. It remains unclear whether the bill will be called
for a vote in that chamber when lawmakers return to Springfield next
week.
Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news
service covering state government. It is distributed to hundreds of
print and broadcast outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the
Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation, along
with major contributions from the Illinois Broadcasters Foundation and
Southern Illinois Editorial Association.
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