Illinois state Rep. Charlie Meier (R-Okawville) | charliemeier.net
Illinois state Rep. Charlie Meier (R-Okawville) | charliemeier.net
Illinois state Rep. Charlie Meier’s (R-Okawville) office said the legislator supports the popular Invest in Kids tax credit scholarship program, even though his name was not on a House GOP-generated letter in support of it.
“He just believes that whenever the Republicans come out in support the Democrats are going to be against it,” a spokesperson for Meier recently told the Metro East Sun.
State Rep. Amy Elik (R-Alton), another of the eight Republicans whose name was not on the May 18 letter, did not return a call asking why.
Late Friday, House Democrats approved a $50.6 billion state spending plan that did not include funding for Invest in Kids, which last year provided scholarships for 9,000 kids to attend private schools. Senate Democrats had approved the budget late Thursday. Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker said in a statement that he would sign the legislation into law.
The tax credit program is slated to sunset on Dec. 31.
The successful $75 million program, which last year drew 31,000 applicants for the 9,000 slots, has been an anathema to powerful Illinois teachers’ unions—particularly the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU). Students in city schools have demonstrated pitiful skill levels even though the state spends an average of $16,000 a year per student. In 2022, for example, only 12% of Black first graders were proficient or above in math.
Senate President Don Harmon (D-Oak Park) and House Speaker Emanuel "Chris" Welch (D-Hillside) had their careers in politics funded by $1 million from the teachers’ unions, a recent Illinois Policy report said. The commentary blasted the move to allow the program to sunset.
“CTU claims Invest in Kids undermines funding for public schools,” Illinois Policy assistant editor Dylan Sharkey said in the report. “But a study from a decade ago found the opposite: Each scholarship student saved government up to $3,000 by removing the need to educate a student for whom tax revenue was still being provided. And Illinois has added $1.6 billion in public school funding since Invest in Kids started.”
Illinois Policy also noted that Pritzker and his children attended private schools. The children of Welch and Harmon also attended private schools.
“Families who can’t afford tuition should have the same opportunities to choose the right school for their children,” Sharkey said.
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