In the upcoming primary elections, many Illinois counties will vote on an advisory referendum about President Trump’s new education tax credit. Since it’s non-binding, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker would still have to opt into the federal program. WNIJ’s education reporter Peter Medlin talked with Northern Illinois University education professor Alexios Rosario-Moore to help explain it…
Peter Medlin (PM): The referendum reads, “Should Illinois opt into a federal program that would provide public K-12, private school, and home school students with privately donated funds for academic needs such as tutoring and test preparation, educational therapies for students with disabilities, tuition, books, exam fees, or for other specified academic needs?”
I think a lot of people read that and think, ‘Well, if they're privately donated funds and they're going to everyone, who cares, why not?’ But does the language of this referendum accurately describe how the program works? What should people know?
Alexios Rosario-Moore (ARM): People should know that this is part of the Education Freedom Tax Credit, which was part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and the program provides dollar-for-dollar tax credits to taxpayers who are willing to give up to $1,700 to Scholarship Granting Organizations, and then those funds can be used towards expenses for private, public or homeschooled kids whose families make up to 300% of whatever the local median income is.
So, in a city like Chicago, for example, that would mean families making about $233,000 or less would have access, potentially, to scholarships and funds from these Scholarship Granting Organizations. But, essentially, that $1,700 would have been going towards federal revenue that's really intended for the public good, for programs that serve all citizens and aren't restrictive.
I think that's sort of what people should understand about it. You're making a donation that then will be managed by organizations that haven't been clearly defined in the statute. Then that money won't go towards the budget. It wouldn't, for example, go towards Title I funds, managed by the U.S. Department of Education, that go to low-income schools.
(PM): What is a Scholarship Granting Organization?
(ARM): It's not clear from the statute. It's not clear whether the U.S. Department of Education is going to identify those nonprofits, if they're existing organizations in the states that opt in or whether those nonprofits are going to be set up perhaps from other donors.
I do have concerns that a federal agency, in this case the U.S. Department of Education, that's shedding its budget and shedding its staff, has the capacity to run a program of this scope, and is basically contracting out the work of identifying & making sure people qualify for these scholarships and sending the money out. What proportion of that money can go towards the administration of those nonprofits? None of that is clear, and it seems to be manufacturing more bureaucracy than it would be reducing.
(PM): Illinois' largest teachers union and some public school advocates say that the program would effectively drain tax dollars for public education and send it to private schools. Is that fair? How could this potentially affect funding for public education?
(ARM): It's draining tax revenue. We may not be able to draw a direct line between the loss of this tax revenue and the potential impact on Title I funds, for example, but we can recognize that the head of the U.S. Department of Education, Linda McMahon, is one of the few agency heads in the history of this country intent on losing funding and shedding their organization's ability to manage its resources.
(PM): The referendum says the program would donate funds to public school students as well. Do we know much, at this point, about how that would work and how the money is distributed? Is it based on these Scholarship Granting Organizations that get approved for it?
(ARM): Yeah, and we don't know what criteria those organizations have to have in order to opt into the program. We don't know what kind of resources they'll be provided to manage the program. We don't know what kind of criteria they will set up. I think the statute does allow room, potentially, for these Scholarship Granting Organizations to create the criteria for who's going to get these funds, who's going to receive them. Ultimately, yeah, we know part of the point of this program is for those funds to go towards private schools that may or may not admit all students, religious schools that may or may not be willing to admit and serve all students — that's problematic.
(PM): This program is the first of its kind at the federal level. How big of a deal is this for private schools and the larger school choice movement?
(ARM): This is significant because it's kind of the replacement scheme or policy for vouchers. Vouchers were found to be illegal or unconstitutional in at least one state, Washington, and also became politically unpopular. So, I see this as part of that larger history, as kind of a new initiative, a new effort to move public funds into private organizations.
Now, do I think it'll make a difference for the health of various private schools and religious schools that may be struggling and whose missions are totally legitimate and may provide high-quality education? I don't think it's going to make a difference. It's not going to keep a school from closing. I don't think it's going to operate at the scale and with the efficiency that will be necessary to support private and religious schools. So, if it's a program that is unlikely to function and meet its goals, then we can say it's not evidence based and it's largely ideological, it's largely a political effort.
(PM): This is just an advisory referendum. It's not binding. Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker would have to opt into it regardless of how these individual referendums turn out in particular counties. But if Governor Pritzker doesn't opt Illinois into this program, Illinois residents can still receive the tax benefits, but the money wouldn't go to Scholarship Granting Organizations or schools in Illinois. Is that how it works?
(ARM): Yeah, if we don't opt in, folks can still make that up-to-$1,700 donation and get the $1,700 tax credit, but the funds would be used in other states that have opted in. Which states and how that would be redistributed is also not articulated in the statute.
(PM): Is there anything else that you think is crucial to this that we haven't talked about?
(ARM): I think I’m concerned many of these efforts are framed as empowering families over their children's education. That kind of messaging is disingenuous and misleading. I'm a parent, my daughter's in third grade. I think we have to, as parents, think about the individual benefits and choices we make about our children's educational experiences, but I think we also have to always remember that we're part of a larger community.
When schools are well-resourced and well-funded and teachers are well-trained, it benefits everyone. It benefits the local community. It benefits the larger society. That's a profound, really important democratic tradition that's existed in our country for at least a century — we should all embrace and recognize that.
