Chicago City Wire

State Rep. Justin Slaughter (D-Chicago) has not shown support for extending the Invest In Kids Tax Credit Scholarship program. Slaughter, a graduate of the University of Chicago Lab School, is just one of several Illinois legislators who have personally benefitted from a private school education and have decided not to extend opportunities to needy children.

The school featured Slaughter, who attended the school on an athletic basketball scholarship, on its “Alumni Insights.” 

“Slaughter credits his experience at UChicago – and specifically his basketball experience – in giving him a perspective that focuses on trying to improve people's lives, which he strives to accomplish in his state legislative role,” the school’s profile of Slaughter reads. 

Slaughter discussed those “less fortunate” than the University of Chicago Lab School students in a Q&A with the school. 

“One of my great experiences is when our basketball team went to visit a community center on the West Side of Chicago,” Slaughter said. “This experience was memorable because it put a lot into perspective for us as student-athletes; it reminded us that we needed to leverage our abilities to give back to underserved communities and to use our blessings to have a positive impact on those less fortunate. I remember how grateful we were to be in a position of influence and that we were effectively making a difference in the lives of our youth that are at risk.”

University of Chicago Lab School costs $42,510 per year. Between 95% and 100% of the school’s graduates go on to a four-year institution. Meanwhile, the cost per pupil at Chicago Public Schools, according to The Center Square, is nearly $30,000 per year but students graduating from those schools only stand a lesser chance of enrolling in a four-year institution. The University of Chicago reported that only 42% of 2018 CPS graduates enrolled in a four-year college. 

Slaughter is one of 35 of Illinois' 177 state legislators who attended private high schools. The private high school graduates include 10 Republicans and 25 Democrats, 15 of whom were raised in the City of Chicago, according to a Prairie State Wire survey.

Missing from the budget's stack of 3,500 pages is anything that pertains to the funding needed for the continuation of the Invest In Kids Tax Credit Scholarship Program. The program serves more than 9,000 K-12 students who are the beneficiaries of the Invest in Kids Tax Credit. The scholarship program allows donors to receive a tax benefit for donating to a state-maintained scholarship program for private schools for low-income families. Yet, for Slaughter and others who prevented the program's continuance these reasons are not enough for it to be included in the more than $50 billion Democrat-led 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.

Proponents of the program highlighted the hypocrisy of legislators who favored eliminating the program. Pritzker and other politicians had sent or were sending their own children to expensive private schools while denying the same opportunity to students who need the scholarship. The Wall Street Journal underscored the power dynamics between teachers' unions, Democratic lawmakers, and the failure of the public education system. The decision to sunset the scholarship program disregarded the needs of low-income students but prioritized the interests of unions over educational reform. The main reason behind the opposition to the program was the influence of teachers' unions, with the agenda to terminate it because its popularity underlined the failures of public schools. 

Notably, the Invest in Kids program received more than 31,000 applications in 2022, 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 to seek options. However, the unions prioritized their power over student learning and pointed fingers at 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 a May 15 episode of Chicago’s Morning Answer, Proft also mentioned Slaughter as one of the state lawmakers who graduated from private schools. 

“I don't know why we're the only ones who will do this," he said. "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.”