State Rep. Tom Demmer (R-Dixon) does not want to see the Invest in Kids scholarship program go. A lingering program enacted by the Rauner administration, Invest in Kids was recently targeted by Gov. J.B. Pritzker for closure.
With the success, impact and popularity of the program, Demmer spoke up on the House floor to urge his colleagues to protect Invest in Kids and remember that it received bipartisan support when it was enacted.
"The Invest in Kids scholarship program is a remarkable tool that allows low-income families to have additional education choice," Demmer said.
The representative used the anecdote of a family local to his district, the Westhoffs, a family with five children that utilized the program to keep all of the children in the same private school.
Demmer read a letter from the family that said the scholarship program "has been such a blessing, not just for us but for many other families at St. Mary's and schools all around Illinois."
"It has given all of us an opportunity to send our kids to where they need to be," the Westhoff letter read.
With another wave of young Illinoisans currently graduating high school, Demmer reminded his colleagues that thousands of families would not be attending a commencement ceremony if it were not for the Invest in Kids program. He called on other lawmakers to join the effort to defend the program that they reached across the aisle to create.
"Also think about the tens of thousands of students who are on waiting lists hoping to one day get access to these scholarships that provide them opportunities that financially their families would not otherwise be able to offer," Demmer said.
This is not Pritzker's first swipe at the Invest in Kids program, according to the DuPage Policy Journal, he made similar threats in 2019.
Other supporters of protecting the program include Empower Illinois, who told The Center Square that almost 7,000 letters have flooded legislators' offices from families, students, school administration and donors since Pritzker announced his intent to cut the program.
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