SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – A program that didn’t make this year’s state budget, which has yet to be signed anyway, is one that Governor JB Pritzker says could make a comeback.
The “Invest in Kids” program provides scholarships to low-income children to go to private schools.
It’s funded by taxpayer donations — which Pritzker says you probably didn’t know about.
“One of the challenges with that program is that there was a huge tax credit — this never gets talked about,” said Pritzker. “75 percent of the charitable giving that’s supposedly being given into Invest in Kids — 75 percent of it is then paid back to people who give the money, in taxpayer dollars.”
Pritzker says he would like to see that aspect be fine tuned.
“I think we should have tax credits that support education and other things in state government,” said Pritzker. “But, we also have the federal government willing to cover about 40 percent of the cost. Why have we created a program in which we’re paying for 75 percent of it? This is a problem in the fundamental makeup of it?”
But, Pritzker says it’s all up to the legislature, and if they vote to continue the program, he’ll sign that bill.
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