Excellence in Education Chairman Jeb Bush had high praise for Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner for signing a bill creating a tax credit scholarship program in the state.
“Today is an historic day for thousands of Illinois families who have been granted the freedom and ability to choose the learning environment that best matches their children’s individual needs,” Bush said in a statement. “Children’s dreams should not be constrained by their ZIP codes, nor their futures determined by an assigned school. ... This decision will have a profound impact on the lives of Illinois’ most disadvantaged children, and Governor Rauner and so many other supporters of this measure from all sides of the political spectrum deserve great credit for this step forward.”
Illinois is the 18th state to create a tax credit scholarship program, which allows businesses and individuals to donate to organizations that provide tuition scholarships to private schools and receive tax credits of 75 to 100 percent of their donation.
Tax credit scholarship programs are allowed under the law because the tax credits are an indirect, not a direct use of tax dollars to fund private education.
Illinois’ program is a five-year pilot program that was added to a larger bill that gives more money to lower-income districts, but teachers’ unions don’t support the initiative, which they see as an attack on public schools.