South Cook News

Despite her own private school education, state Rep. Kelly M. Burke (D-Evergreen Park) voted for a budget that lets the Invest In Kids Tax Credit Scholarship program expire. 

Burke, chair of the House Revenue Committee, is a graduate of Saint Ignatius and is also a member of the Most Holy Redeemer Parish.  

“In recent years, previous chairs of this committee have led Illinois to a much stronger fiscal position,' Burke said, according to The Beverly Review. "Paying back bills early saves taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars in interest charges while improving our long-term credit standing. My goal is to keep up that trend going strong so that we can afford to steadily lessen the property tax burden on Illinois working families.” 

St. Ignatius, a school from which 99% of its graduates go on to a four-year institution, was cited as a reason to support Invest In Kids by V. Rev. Karl J. Kiser, provincial of the Midwest Province of the Society of Jesus. 

“Loyola Academy and Saint Ignatius College Prep, serve a significant number of students who meet the financial qualifications of this scholarship,” Kiser said in a defense of Invest In Kids. “Jesuit schools serve both Catholic families seeking a Catholic education for their children, as well as families of other faith traditions who value Jesuit education. Jesuit schools in Illinois perform a public service educating nearly 4700 students formed to be leaders in our Illinois communities. The Invest in Kids Tax Credit Scholarship Program gives families a choice for their children: to attend Jesuit schools that provide a college preparatory, values-based education for the whole child.”

Burke, the representative for the 36th District and mayor of Evergreen Park, 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, Prairie State Wire reported.

As someone who has studied at Saint Ignatius, Burke could have an idea of how costly it is to enroll in such a school. Currently, families need $20,250 per year to enroll their children at Saint Ignatius. Yet, Burke agreed on a budget that would sunset the Invest In Kids Tax Credit Scholarship Program.

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," Gov. J.B. Pritzker said about the program at a press conference. "It’s something that still has time, potentially, but it’s not something that’s in the budget agreement.”

Proponents of the program are making allegations of hypocrisy against lawmakers who send their own children to private schools but voted for a budget that doesn't include the scholarship program.

In an editorial, The Wall Street Journal blamed teachers' unions, Democratic lawmakers, and failures within the public education system. The editorial said that 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 opposition to the program is the influence of teachers' unions, with the agenda to terminate it because its popularity underlined the failures of public schools. 

The Invest in Kids program received more than 31,000 applications in 2022, indicating a high demand for alternatives to underperforming public schools. The Wall Street Journal editorial said many low-income families, particularly Black and Hispanic families, supported the scholarship program because their assigned Illinois schools had low proficiency rates in reading and math. The editorial said the shortcomings of the public education system is evident from the fourth to eighth grades, leading to a high demand to seek options. However, the editorial claims, 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 claims 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?”

On the May 15 episode of Chicago’s Morning Answer Proft discussed the lawmakers who voted to cut the tax credit despite having benefitted from a private school education themselves. 

“I don't know why we're the only ones who will do this. We're happy to do it. But there should be a chorus talking about the hypocrisy of Illinois state legislators when it comes to the tax credit scholarship program to provide school choice to lower to middle-income families who are otherwise relegated to terrible schools discriminated against based on their household income in their address,” Proft said on the May 15 episode of Chicago’s Morning Answer. “Give you a little bit of a sampling of where your duly elected state legislators went to high school, selective enrollment, and private schools.”