Teachers unions to fight nationwide school choice bill after killing option in Illinois

Teachers unions to fight nationwide school choice bill after killing option in Illinois

The first nationwide school choice bill to pass out of committee in U.S. history was just reintroduced. But teachers unions, which killed Illinois’ school choice program in 2023, oppose giving families education options.

Congress members just re-introduced a nationwide school choice bill, which made history in September 2024 by passing out of committee and advancing to the U.S. House floor.

The Educational Choice for Children Act was introduced Jan. 29 by U.S. Sens. Bill Cassidy, R-La., and Tim Scott, R-S.C., along with 24 Republican colleagues. It came as the nation marks National School Choice Week.

If passed, Illinois families and those across the nation would benefit from K-12 scholarships for low-income students. The bill is cause for hope for the 15,000 low-income Illinois students whose private school scholarships were taken away when teachers unions pressured state lawmakers in 2023 to kill the Invest in Kids program, making Illinois the only state to work against the national movement towards letting parents choose their children’s schooling.

Teachers unions have long opposed giving parents an alternative to the educational product they offered. That is why they killed Illinois’ Invest in Kids program. It is also why they want to kill the federal bill, which offers hope to those Illinois families denied the option to give their children an education that better fits their needs.

Teachers unions in Illinois fight to limit parents’ choices in educational options

Just 41% of students in third through eighth grade in Illinois public schools could read at grade level in 2024. Even fewer students – just 28% – met proficiency standards in math. The proficiency rate in both reading in math is even worse among low-income students.

A better education is among the many reasons 15,000 Illinois students sought different education options through Illinois’ Invest in Kids private school choice program. Low-income students who received scholarships from the Invest in Kids program were proficient in reading and math at a higher rate in nearly every grade compared to low-income public-school students in Illinois.

Despite the success of the program, teachers unions opposed the scholarships. The Illinois Federation of Teachers called on its followers to “keep the pressure on lawmakers to sunset” the program, and the Chicago Teachers Union, a local affiliate of IFT, announced they wanted to program to end “for good.” Illinois lawmakers ultimately kowtowed to teachers unions’ demands and ended Illinois’ tax-credit scholarship program, forcing thousands of low-income Illinois students to lose their scholarships.

IFT and CTU’s opposition to the Invest in Kids program wasn’t their first fight against school choice. In the six Illinois legislative sessions between 2011 and 2022, IFT and CTU filed official opposition against at least four bills creating programs to provide students with scholarships to attend nonpublic school. They also opposed at least three bills creating programs to provide students with vouchers to attend nonpublic schools, and CTU filed its opposition against a fourth.

IFT and CTU also stymied the growth of charter schools, lobbying against at least three bills removing limits on the total number of charter schools that can operate statewide or in the city of Chicago. They lobbied in support of a bill which extended a moratorium on the creation of charter schools that have virtual-schooling components and in favor of a bill prohibiting the opening of a charter school in any ZIP code in which a public school was closed in the previous 10 years.

IFT and CTU have a history of denying parents options and opposing school choice. Now with the introduction of a potential federal tax-credit scholarship program, teachers unions are again opposing any parent’s ability to make decisions about their children’s educations.

What is the Educational Choice for Children Act?

The Educational Choice for Children Act is a federal tax-credit scholarship program which would provide K-12 scholarships to eligible students across the country. Taxpayers would receive a dollar-for-dollar federal tax credit up to the greater of $5,000 or 10% of their income for donations to non-profit scholarship granting organizations, or tax-exempt organizations providing scholarships to students. Businesses would receive a tax credit up to 5% of their taxable income. In other words, no federal money would be directed toward scholarships, but private individuals would be granted tax credits for donating and the program would be funded by foregone income-tax revenue.

The federal tax-credit scholarship program would only award scholarships to low-income students whose family household incomes were at or below 300% of the median income level in their area. The program’s goal is to “expand educational freedom and parent choice to families unable to afford alternative schooling options.”

While students may use the scholarship funds to pay for tuition at a private school, recipients can also attend public school or homeschool and use the funds for other expenses. Those include curriculum or books, online educational materials, tutoring or additional educational classes, fees for advanced placement exams or college admission exams, fees for dual enrollment and educational therapies for students with disabilities.

The bill proposes the program be allocated $10 billion in tax credits each year, with $20 million being allocated specifically to each state.

Illinois bucked national trends in November 2023 when lawmakers made Illinois the only state to roll back the state’s tax-credit scholarship program. There are 20 states with state-level legislation in place providing for tax-credit scholarships to students.

If the federal tax-credit scholarship program is enacted, low-income Illinois students could once again benefit from tax-credit scholarships to attend private schools or access additional educational support.

As they did in Illinois, teachers unions are trying to push the narrative that a donation-driven program somehow takes money from public education. The National Education Association is actively opposing the bill, claiming education choice for children is bad and locking them into lackluster public schools is good.

While there are still multiple hurdles to enactment, the bill gives hope to families in Illinois who have not been given the options and advantages families in other states enjoy.

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