North Cook News

While State Rep. Marty Moylan (D-Des Plaines) is "passionate in solving the community’s most pressing challenges while creating opportunities" according to his website, he has not shown support for extending the Invest In Kids Tax Credit Scholarship program.

The program, which benefits a number of less financially capable students to attend non-public schools, is soon to sunset after not being included in a budget that Moylan favored. He is among several Illinois legislators who have personally benefitted from private school education and have decided not to extend opportunities to needy children. 

Moylan’s background in Catholic education is enumerated in an Illinois State Board of Elections bio as well as on his website. 

“Moylan attended St. Angela‘s grammar school, graduated from St. Philips High School, and attended the University of Illinois. While growing up, Moylan was a member of the North Austin Boys Club where he participated in football, baseball, and boxing,” the bio reads.

Moylan is one of 35 of Illinois' 177 state legislators who attended private high schools. 

The private high school graduates include ten Republicans and 25 Democrats, 15 of whom were raised in the City of Chicago, according to research conducted by Prairie State Wire.

The scholarship program allows for donors to receive a 75 percent income tax credit who contribute to qualified Scholarship Granting Organizations (SGOs) According to Illinois Policy, the program has awarded more than 37,000 scholarships worth $280 million since it started in 2018. But the program is to end sooner than expected as funding needed for its continuance was not considered in the 3,500 pages of the state’s over $50 billion budget.

“This is not something that’s been covered by the budget agreement. It’s something that still has time, potentially, but it’s not something that’s in the budget agreement,” Gov. J.B. Pritzker said at a press conference announcing a budget framework has been agreed, according to Prairie State Wire.  

Critics highlighted the hypocrisy of lawmakers involved in shutting down the program. Pritzker and other politicians had sent or were sending their own children to expensive private schools while denying the same opportunity to less fortunate students. The Wall Street Journal underscored the power dynamics between teachers' unions, Democratic lawmakers, and the failure of the public education system. The decision to end the scholarship program disregarded the needs of low-income students and prioritized the interests of unions over educational reform. The main reason behind the opposition to the program was the influence of teachers' unions, who wanted to eliminate it because its popularity highlighted the failures of public schools. 

The Invest in Kids program received more than 31,000 applications last year, indicating a high demand for alternatives to underperforming public schools. Many low-income families, particularly Black and Hispanic, supported the scholarship program because their assigned Illinois schools had low proficiency rates in reading and math. The failure of the public education system was evident from the fourth to eighth grades, leading to a high demand for alternatives. However, the unions prioritized their power over student learning and blamed the schools' failures on lack of funding rather than addressing systemic issues. WSJ reports 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,” he said. “Give you a little bit of a sampling of where your duly elected state legislators went to high school, selective enrollment, and private schools.”