Prairie State Wire

School choice parents handily support school choice, according to an Echelon Insights poll. 

The poll surveyed 800 Illinoisan voters from March 27 through 29. 

The poll asked: “School choice gives parents the right to use the tax dollars designated for their child’s education to send their child to the public or private school which best serves their needs. Generally speaking, would you say you support or oppose the concept of school choice?” 62% of those who responded via phone said they support school choice, and 42% of respondents via the web said they strongly support school choice. 

The poll also asked, “In 2017, Illinois created the Invest in Kids Tax Credit Scholarship program. This program allows for low-income and working-class families to apply for scholarships to send their children to the non-public school of their choice. These needs-based scholarships are funded by private donations from businesses and individuals in exchange for a state income tax credit for the individual or business who provided the donation. Do you support or oppose the tax credit scholarship program?” Of those who responded via phone 59% said they support the scholarship program, and 27% of respondents via the web said they strongly support it, and 32% said they somewhat support the program.

Of those 70% participated through text-to-web and 30% were sampled via landline. 

“The sample was weighted to population benchmarks for registered voters in the state of Illinois on gender, age, race/ethnicity, education, congressional district, party, and 2020 vote participation,” the poll results read. “Estimates for gender, age, party, congressional district, and 2020 vote participation were derived from the L2 voter file. Estimates for race/ethnicity and education were derived from the US Census Bureau’s American Community Survey demographic data adjusted to match voter registration estimates from the November 2020 Current Population Survey Voting and Registration Supplement.” 

Former Gov. Bruce Rauner, a Republican, signed into law the state’s first tax-rebate program that allowed education choice for students meeting minimum income requirements, such as is included in State Rep. Chris Miller's (R-Oakland) bill. The program provided $75 million for low-income students. 

“The tax credit scholarship program established by SB 1947 would empower thousands of low-income students to escape failing public schools. Under the plan, the scholarships would be funded with dollars put into a scholarship-granting organization by individuals and businesses with an Illinois tax liability. For every dollar donors give, they receive a 75-cent tax credit,” Illinois Policy said at the time. 

Since that time public school and student performance has steeply declined.

In 2022, Miller introduced House Bill 1135, the Education Savings Account Act. 

“Provides that a parent of an eligible student (defined as any elementary or secondary student who was eligible to attend a public school in this State in the preceding semester or is starting school in this State for the first time and who is a member of a household whose total annual income does not exceed an amount equal to 2.5 times the income standard used to qualify for a free or reduced-price lunch under the national free or reduced-price lunch program) shall qualify for the State Board to make a grant to his or her child's Education Savings Account by signing an agreement,” the bill’s synopsis read. 

HB 1135 would also mandate "the State Board to deposit into an Education Savings Account some or all of the State aid under the State aid formula provisions of the School Code that would otherwise have been provided to the resident school district for the eligible student had the student enrolled in the resident school district.” 

The bill would also provide "that parents participating in the Program shall agree to use the funds deposited in their eligible students' accounts for certain qualifying expenses to educate the eligible student." Additionally, the bill "Sets forth provisions concerning the calculation of grant amounts and other basic elements of the Program, administration of the Program, accountability standards for participating schools, and the responsibilities of the State Board and resident school districts.”

National expert on school choice Corey DeAngelis discussed school choice on an episode of the Adam Corolla Show in 2021. 

“We don't residentially assign low-income families to government-run grocery stores and tell them that they must use their food stamps at a particular institution you can choose Wal-Mart Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s…and I can keep going on and on with examples but we do this in so many other areas. Why don't we do it with K-12 education too?” he asked, DuPage Policy Journal previously reported.