Sabrina Sibby

A few years ago, Sabrina Sibby was working hard to keep her children in what she believed was the best school for them. They commuted 30 miles each way to attend a public charter school. But when the very issues she had hoped to avoid caught up to her sons there, she enrolled them in a private school closer to home. It was only possible thanks to a tax credit scholarship.

“There was a critical time in my son’s life. One day I realized my son was going through some serious problems in school and I found a knife in his backpack. I, as a mother, knew it was time to make a change and the change needed to be now.”

“He felt like he needed to protect himself. And I asked him why did he feel like he needs to protect himself? He said, ‘Well, I need to protect me and my brother because the teachers cannot do it.’”

“Transferring them to private school was the best decision I made physically, but not financially. Currently, our high school education is only possible through the tax credit scholarship.”

“I have a scholarship for my sixth-grade student at St. Sabina Academy. I also had a scholarship for my older son, who graduated from Leo High School, and is now at Rust College, where he is pursuing his dreams in baseball and business management.”

“If these scholarships end, it may result in me having to quit my job and homeschool my son. Having the scholarship allows them to be in a safe, respectful and trauma-free environment. It allows them to focus more on the importance of education and not so much on the safety issue.”

“Without an extension on the scholarship program, many families would have to make a major decision on whether their child will be in a stable community where they have been their entire educational journey, or risk moving into a place that will traumatize their children.”

“My son is going into his most critical years in elementary school. In seventh and eighth grade, he’s finally in a place of stability and security. Another move to a strange school with kids that he does not know will set him back on his educational journey.”

“It is time to protect my family. It is time for the state of Illinois to save our scholarships.”

Sabrina Sibby
Teacher, St. Sabina Academy
Chicago, Illinois