Illinois
U.S.
Rank
Rank
#48 F
Overall PPI Score: 58%
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Leadership
Your Governor:
J.B. Pritzker (D) (0)
First term began in 2019 (no term limit). Re-elected in 2022.
Governor J.B. Pritzker bucked the national trend by being the only statewide elected official to eliminate a growing major education freedom program, Invest in Kids. Even after repeated pleas to allow the families in the program to finish their education, Pritzker cut off what was a vital pathway to success for nearly ten-thousand Illinois families without hesitation.
STATE LEGISLATURE:
The Democrat-controlled legislature has shown that competition is not something they support as they moved to eliminate the Invest in Kids program as well as attempting to remove the Charter School Commission from the process to create more of these innovative schools that have been embraced by families. These efforts to curtail education freedom will continue until parent power is engaged and pushes back on legislators who refuse to listen to the will of Illinois families.
Constitutional Issues
The Illinois Constitution contains both a Compelled Support Clause and a Blaine Amendment. The Illinois Supreme Court permitted some public support for children attending religious schools, though. "The Illinois Supreme Court has found that only direct, unrestricted payments of public funds to religious schools unconstitutional."(Institute for Justice)
Transparency
School report cards are easily accessible by clicking the “IL Report Card” button at the top of the Illinois State Board of Education homepage. Report cards are searchable by school, district, city, county, address or zip code. Individual school reports are presented in a clean dashboard where users can explore a variety of data, including academic progress, school environment, accountability, and teacher and student demographics, among other things. School reports can be easily downloaded into a “At-a-Glance” PDF.
Educational options are easily accessible on the homepage, under the “Regional Services & School Improvement” section.
School Board elections in Illinois occur separately from the general election cycle, often resulting in reduced parental influence and a diminished ability to make their voices heard due to lower voter turnout.