Indivisible Evanston is working with Illinois Families for Public Schools and a coalition of 30 organizations to make sure that Invest In Kids, a tax credit voucher program, ends. It's scheduled to expire (sunset) in 2023 and we want to be sure that it does. Click HERE for more information about this program. The unwise push to continue this program is part of a national conservative effort to have state governments invest in voucher programs--sending public funds to private, primarily religious schools. In Illinois, in addition to the organizations whose schools are benefiting from the program, it is being supported by some big players like Betsy DeVos, Illinois Federation for Children PAC, and the right-wing Illinois Policy Institute. More info about who's backing it HERE.
Indivisible Evanston is strongly opposed to this program. The proponents are well-organized and highly financed. Legislators have told us they haven’t heard much from opponents. They need to hear from us!
So, please take a minute and call or write your state senator and representatives about this issue. For most of us, these are state Senator Laura Fine and state Represenatives Robyn Gabel or Jennifer Gong-Gershowitz. You can find all their contact information on our website here. If you have different IL representatives, you can click here to find their contact info.
Sen. Fine: 217 782-2119 (Springfield); 847 998-1717 (Glenview). Email her HERE.
Rep. Gabel: 217 782-8052 (Springfield); 847 414-5401 (Evanston). Email her HERE. Rep. Gong-Gershowitz: 217 782-4194 (Springfield); (847) 488-8810 (Glenview). Email her HERE. Here's a sample script you can use as a starting point (personal details are also very helpful!) when you call or write: I'm a constituent of _____ (name of senator/representative) and a supporter of public schools. The Invest in Kids voucher program is diverting public dollars to private schools. Can I count on her to do whatever is needed to ensure the program sunsets as planned after the 2023-2024 school year? Many of these schools discriminate, and almost all of them are religious. Meanwhile our state is still underfunding public schools and pushing the funding burden to local property taxes. We can’t have a parallel private system siphoning away scarce public dollars and also have strong public schools that serve all kids. I hope Sen Fine understands that the public good of serving tens of thousands of public school students and their families surely outweighs the sectarian desires of a handful to subsidize religious education.