South Cook News

Despite a connection to the state’s Catholic schools, State Sen. Mike Porfirio (D-Bridgeview) has not supported extending the Invest In Kids Tax Credit Scholarship program. 

Porfirio is just one of several Illinois legislators who have personally benefitted from private school education but voted for a budget that does not to extend opportunities to needy children. Porfirio is an alum of St. Rita of Cascia High School and was also a former student council president. St. Rita costs $13,900 per year. 94% of the school's graduates go on to a four-year institution.

Porfirio is one of 35 of Illinois' 177 state legislators who attended private high schools. The private high school graduates include 10 Republicans and 25 Democrats, 15 of whom were raised in the City of Chicago, a Prairie State Wire survey showed.

Missing from the budget is funding for the continuation of the Invest In Kids Tax Credit Scholarship Program. The program serves more than 9,000 K-12 students. The scholarship program allows donors to receive a tax benefit for donating to a state-maintained scholarship program for private schools for low-income families. 

“This is not something that’s been covered by the budget agreement. It’s something that still has time, potentially, but it’s not something that’s in the budget agreement,” Gov. J.B. Pritzker said at a press conference announcing a budget deal had been struck. 

St. Rita of Cascia High School advocates for scholarships funded in part by Invest In Kids. 

“St. Rita works with both The Big Shoulders Fund and Empower Illinois, two approved Scholarship Granting Organizations.” St. Rita’s Rosemarie Boldt wrote in a presentation.

Critics accuse lawmakers who went to private schools –  but who voted for a budget that doesn't have this program – of hypocrisy.

A Wall Street Journal editorial blames the power dynamic between teachers' unions, Democratic lawmakers, and what it sees as the failure of the public education system. The editorial said the decision to sunset the scholarship program disregards the needs of low-income students but prioritized the interests of unions over educational reform. The editorial said the main reason behind the opposition to the program was the influence of teachers' unions, with the agenda to terminate it because its popularity underlined the failures of public schools. 

Last year alone, the Invest in Kids program received more than 31,000 applications, indicating a high demand for alternatives to underperforming public schools. The editorial said many low-income families, particularly Black and Hispanic, supported the scholarship program because their assigned Illinois schools had low proficiency rates in reading and math. The shortcomings of the public education system was evident from the fourth to eighth grades, leading to a high demand to seek options. However, the editorial said the unions prioritized their power over student learning and pointed fingers at the schools' failures on lack of funding rather than addressing systemic issues. WSJ reports union leaders hold significant influence over Illinois lawmakers, who have received substantial campaign contributions from teachers' unions. 

Chicago’s Morning Answer host Dan Proft called out Senate President Don Harmon (D-Oak Park) and other legislative leaders for sending their own kids to Catholic schools but eliminating funding for low-income students.

“Senate President Don Harmon's kids: St. Giles, St. Ignatius,” Proft said on Twitter. “House Speaker Chris Welch's kids: Timothy Christian. Why not OPRF or Proviso?”