CPS Board calls on Gov. Pritzker to reject federal program that funds private school tuition

After a lively debate, the Chicago Board of Education approved a resolution Wednesday calling on Gov. JB Pritzker to reject a federal program championed by the Trump administration that can help cover private school tuition or offset public school costs.

Though the vote passed 15-0, three members abstained and one board member argued that the resolution was “politically motivated” and a vote should be postponed indefinitely, highlighting the contentious nature of an issue that has divided local and national lawmakers.

The resolution calls on Pritzker and state lawmakers to reject any programs that would create, expand or “otherwise reintroduce school voucher programs in Illinois” because they would “undermine Illinois’ commitment to fully funded public schools.”

The resolution doesn’t mention a specific initiative by name, but it points to renewed efforts by the Trump administration at the federal level which seek to “expand and incentivize voucher or publicly funded scholarships for private schools.”

Pritzker is currently weighing whether to opt into a new federal program that will allow donors to certain scholarship organizations to reduce how much they owe in federal income tax by up to $1,700. States have until Jan. 1, 2027 to join.

Those scholarships could fund private school tuition, or unlike other similar programs, they can support activities that cost money at public schools like tutoring, after-school programs or school supplies. It was created last year as part of the president’s sweeping tax and spending law.

Families earning up to 300% of their area’s median income – in Chicago that would be about $230,000 or less – are eligible to receive scholarships. The tax credits won’t be available until next year.

Support for the program has mostly been divided along political lines. President Donald Trump’s administration and Republicans in Congress have lauded the program as a way to expand education options and make them more affordable.

Critics say it will undermine public schools by diverting taxpayer dollars. They also charge that public funds will go to schools with discriminatory policies. Private schools, for example, are not required to serve students with disabilities in the same way as public schools.

The resolution notes that private schools “are not held to the same transparency, accountability, civil rights, or governance standards as public schools.”

Ellen Rosenfeld, one of the three board members who abstained, led the effort to postpone the vote indefinitely. She said that though she wouldn’t support anything that divests funds from public schools, “politics don’t belong in the board room.”

Rosenfeld said the matter should instead be on the school board’s legislative agenda, which sets the district’s priorities in Springfield. She urged members to lobby the governor to oppose the program because it is ultimately his decision, and said the board should focus on matters that directly affect Chicago Public Schools students.

“I want to talk about learning, student voice, chronic absenteeism, student safety, that’s what I want to talk about here,” Rosenfeld said. “I will never support a resolution that is simply politically motivated, it is not our job.”

But member Debby Pope, who spearheaded the resolution, said it was important to take a stand against the program put forward by the Trump administration, given its moves to undermine public education and advance policies that have harmed CPS students, such as the president’s mass deportation campaign.

“How can we even consider the idea of not being opposed to a program that is being proposed by this president with his intentions to destroy the Department of Education?” Pope said.

Board member Che “Rhymefest” Smith, who also abstained, said the board spends too much time talking about politics and not enough time talking about how to improve student experiences.

“Fifty-four percent of our time is wasted on politics, and government things, and I’m not saying politics ain’t important, but what are we doing as a board when we only spend 14% of our time talking about student outcomes?” Smith said.

Member Jitu Brown said he disagreed with that line of thinking and argued “everything is about politics.”

Therese Boyle, the third board member who abstained, said she needed more time to research the “ins and outs” of the program.

Ahead of the vote, Chicago Teachers Union Vice President Jackson Potter called for the board to approve the resolution, likening the federal scholarship program to a “fox entering a hen house” that will lead to less accountability for public dollars.

“Vouchers do more to support wealthy families and children and undermine public services and schools,” Potter said. He pointed to states like Arizona, where reporting has found students in richer ZIP codes are using vouchers more than those who live in low-income areas, and Florida, where public schools have trimmed budgets due to low enrollment partly because of the growing popularity of school vouchers.

Pritzker hasn’t been a strict opponent of similar programs in the past. When running for reelection in 2022 he said he supported the state’s now-defunct Invest in Kids program in a Sun-Times questionnaire. Earlier this year, Pritzker told WBEZ he was evaluating the new federal program through a “lens focused on affordability for working families and what best supports Illinois, families and public schools.”

But he has also raised red flags about how the latest federal policy could be used, according to reporting by the Chicago Tribune. Earlier this year Pritzker sent Comptroller Susana Mendoza a text message after she wrote an opinion piece in the Tribune calling for Illinois to opt in.

“State/federal tax credit dollars would go to support schools that teach children that gay people are evil, that ‘the KKK was fighting against the decline of morality,’ that white supremacy is God’s will — and other crazy notions,” Pritzker’s message said, according to texts obtained by the Tribune.

So far 29 states, mostly led by Republican governors, have opted into the federal program, according to a tally kept by Education Week. Only two Democratic governors have opted in, but a few others who initially said they were opposed to the program are reconsidering.

Illinois’ former Invest in Kids program allowed donors to authorized scholarship groups to reduce their state tax burden by as much as $1 million, but state lawmakers allowed that program to sunset in 2023.

The Archdiocese of Chicago has attributed declining enrollment and school closures to the end of the program, though area Catholic schools have experienced a pattern of shutterings and dwindling student population for decades, due to a combination of factors.