Prairie State Wire

State Rep. Adam Niemerg (R-Dieterich) passionately called on the Illinois House to extend Invest In Kids – a vital scholarship program serving needy children – in the eleventh hour, emphasizing the urgent need to save scholarships for deserving students across the state.

Niemerg expressed his frustration with the delay in addressing the issue and implored House Speaker Chris Welch to call a bill to extend the scholarship program to action.

Amid the looming legislative adjournment without an extension of the program, Niemerg offered his support to the students who had gathered at the Capitol, advocating for the preservation of their scholarships.

Kids rallied at the State Capitol to no avail. | X / Greg Price

“People that have come to your offices asking for help, asking for the extension, asking for their scholarships to be saved,” Niemerg said on the House floor.

“And we sit here on the last day and the speaker says, 'I need 71. I need 71.' Well, I've seen the speaker call bills that maybe got 47, 48 votes or pulled from the record postpone consideration. So I know this bill can be called and I know that the votes are here. You have 40 from us. Call the bill. These kids will not be ignored. They will not be silenced. Call the bill. Save the scholarships. Call the bill, Mr. Speaker. Right now. Thank you.”

House Speaker Chris Welch, who sends his own kids to private schools, denied Niemerg’s call by adjourning the veto session without calling a bill that would have extended the program.

Notably, Senate president Don Harmon and Gov. J.B. Pritzker sent their children to private schools as well.

The urgency of the situation became evident as the end of the veto session neared.

Illinois Freedom Caucus Communications Director Greg Price reported on Twitter that Illinois Democrats had failed to vote to continue the state's only school choice program, emphasizing that the decision affected approximately 10,000 low-income and predominantly minority students who relied on the program to access quality education.

“Illinois Democrats just killed the only school choice program in the state,” Price said on Twitter. “It’s not a voucher but a tax credit that funds scholarships for 10,000 low income and mostly minority students.”

“The kids wanted it but the teachers' unions didn’t.”

“So IL Dems ended it.”

With the demise of Invest In Kids Illinois becomes the only state to roll back public funding for school choice.

The scholarship program played a pivotal role in providing educational opportunities for 9,600 economically disadvantaged students, ensuring that they could attend private schools that would otherwise be financially out of reach.

However, the program faced staunch opposition from teachers' unions, with Chicago Teacher's Union President Stacy Davis Gates being a prominent critic.

Davis Gates notably sends her own children to private schools despite publicly calling them “segregation academies.”

In the midst of the debate, false claims circulated by the Illinois Education Association, such as the assertion that "more white students are helped" by the scholarships, which was later debunked.

According to a report by Illinois Policy, the Invest in Kids Tax Credit Scholarship Program predominantly benefited minority students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds, with 53% of recipients being of Black or Hispanic heritage.