The Illinois Voucher Law Is About To Ride Into The Sunset. Will Lawmakers Rescue It, Or Just Wave Goodbye?
Illinois is looking at a unique opportunity to undo a voucher law. But will they take it? I wrote about it for Forbes.com.
The program was written to last only five years. It was then extended for one more year. In the interim, the usually-blue state has replaced Bruce Rauner and his Scott Walker aspirations with Governor J. B. Pritzker, a Democrat who has aggressively positioned himself as the antithesis of GOP figures like Ron DeSantis (Pritzker calls him an “extremist”).
Will the voucher law survive in a state that has renewed its blue?
Vouchers and tax credit scholarships are often used as a way to get around the wall between church and state, and Illinois appears to be no exception. An analysis of Illinois Department of Revenue reports by Illinois Families for Public School found that 95% of the vouchers are used to attend a private religious school.
Yeshivas Tiferes Tzvi Academy of Chicago reserves the right to expel any student whose family listens to secular music. Rockford Christian Schools will not enroll s “parent with a child at home.” Westlake Christian Academy of Greyslake will not admit students if they or their custodial parents maintain a “lifestyle” that violates biblical principles; this would include “promiscuity, homosexual behavior, or other violations of the unique God-give roles of male and female.” In fact, Westlake only accepts students from families in which one parent is “a born-again Christian.” These sorts of restrictions are common to many of the schools participating in the state’s voucher program. Taxpayers are footing the bill for this discrimination.