Greg Richmond, superintendent of schools for the Archdiocese of Chicago, said despite Democratic lawmakers keeping the Invest In Kids Scholarship program out of the state’s budget, the program is still being discussed between the Archdiocese and the lawmakers who may be able to keep it alive.
“Even though Gov. JB Pritzker and Speaker Emanuel ‘Chris’ Welch and Senate President Don Harmon announced Wednesday that they would not include Invest in Kids scholarships in the Illinois state budget, discussions continue behind closed doors,” Richmond said on Facebook. “Taking away the scholarships of thousands of low-income students is not as easy as some hoped.”
Prior to the admission from Pritzker that Invest in Kids was not included in the budget, Richmond was vocal about the program.
“We have had thousands and thousands of parents contact their legislators throughout the state, asking them to continue this important scholarship program for kids,” Richmond told NBC Chicago 5. “The good news is the governor said he supports the program. He said that in his campaign last fall.”
Richmond had previously angered parents in the Catholic school community for following mandatory masking guidelines for children during the COVID pandemic. Some Catholic parents deemed mandatory masking to be child abuse.
Before becoming superintendent of schools for the Archdiocese of Chicago, Richmond was president & CEO National Association of Charter School Authorizers for over 14 years and also worked as chief officer, New Schools Office Chicago Public Schools for over a decade. He also previously worked as committee staff in the Illinois State Senate in the early 1990s.
More than 9,000 low-income K-12 students are the beneficiaries of the Invest in Kids tax credit. Pritzker said in a May 24 press conference he would not be seeking to fund the program going further.
“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,” Pritzker said at a press conference announcing a budget deal had been struck, according to Prairie State Wire.
