Democrats still divided over transition to Chicago elected school board; chances dim for private school tax credit extension
Illinois House and Senate Democrats remained divided Wednesday over how to handle the transition to a fully elected Chicago school board, while supporters of a controversial tax credit program for private school scholarships that’s set to expire at the end of the year were skeptical they’d be able to round up enough votes for an extension.
With one session day remaining on the legislative calendar for 2023, the House voted 78-33 to approve boundary lines for 20 districts that eventually will each elect a representative to the school board and a plan to have 10 members chosen by voters in the 2024 election, with the remaining 10 and a board president appointed by the city’s mayor.
But after both chambers adjourned for the night Wednesday, Senate President Don Harmon said in a statement his chamber wouldn’t take up the House proposal because it had “woefully inadequate ethical provisions,” while also emphasizing his support for a proposal he made a day earlier that would have voters elect all 20 board members next year.
Harmon said the House version would, among other deficiencies, allow executives or employees of school district contractors and vendors to serve on the board.
“We are eager to work with the House on the shared goal of an elected representative school board but we will not accept watered down ethical provisions, and we believe the parents, families, students and taxpayers of Chicago deserve immediate representation,” Harmon said.
Democratic state Rep. Ann Williams of Chicago, who sponsored the House proposal, followed up with a statement saying “these particular concerns from Senate President Harmon were never brought to our attention until tonight, I feel confident we can continue to work together to achieve a product that Chicago can be proud of.”
The Senate and House did, however, appear to be on the same page when it comes to boundary lines for the board districts.
Under the elected school board plan signed by Gov. J.B. Pritzker in 2021, half the board’s members were to have been elected next year, with the city’s mayor choosing the remaining members and a board president.
Lawmakers and advocates have grappled with how to fairly conduct elections under that plan, which was the result of a compromise backed by Harmon that cleared the way for approval of an elected board after years of failed attempts.
On Tuesday, Harmon, an Oak Park Democrat who represents a sliver of Chicago’s West Side, surprised many involved with the issue when he introduced a proposal to instead have all 20 districts elect representatives in 2024, half to four-year terms and half to two-year terms. Harmon had earlier proposed a plan where only 10 districts would have voted next year.
Williams’ proposal in the House more closely aligns with the existing law. It would pair districts for the 2024 election and allow voters citywide to cast a ballot. After the election, the mayor would appoint representatives from the 10 districts where the winners do not reside.
Voters in all districts would cast ballots again in 2026, with districts that had elected representatives in 2024 choosing members for four-year terms and districts with appointees choosing new members for two-year terms.
Late Wednesday, the Chicago Teachers Union issued a statement criticizing Harmon’s proposal, which the union said “could ultimately delay and deny the democracy Chicago so desperately needs and deserves.”
The CTU said the proposal in the House “addresses candidate eligibility questions while maintaining strong ethics protections.”
Democratic Sen. Robert Martwick of Chicago, a longtime proponent of an elected school board who sponsored the 2021 legislation, said he’s open to whatever arrangement can win approval before lawmakers are scheduled to adjourn Thursday.
“There’s no ideal situation,” Martwick said. “There’s a bunch of options; they all have benefits, and they all have things that make them problematic. And we’re just kind of working through it.”
Most lawmakers seemed comfortable with the map Senate Democrats proposed last week, which included seven majority Black districts, six majority Latino districts, five majority white districts and two where no racial or ethnic group makes up more than half the population. But critics argued the map doesn’t adequately reflect the CPS student body, which has a higher Latino and Black population than the city as a whole.
“The promise of an elected school board was a beacon of hope for us, a turning point that was supposed to ensure our children and our communities have a say in the education that we receive, yet here we are still fighting for the fundamental right of representation,” Blaire Flowers, a CPS parent with the group Kids First Chicago, said during a Senate committee hearing Tuesday.
The goal laid out by Flowers and others is complicated by constitutional requirements that districts be representative of the entire population. Harmon called such a goal “noble but not constitutional.”
Lawmakers have until April 1 to approve a map of the school board districts, so the issue could wait until the legislature reconvenes in January, though Williams and other lawmakers say they would like to reach a resolution this week to give potential school board candidates time to organize their campaigns.
The timeline is tighter for extending the Invest in Kids scholarship tax credit program, which will expire Jan. 1 absent action from the General Assembly.
The program has broad support from Republicans but has divided Democrats in the legislative supermajority.
While some Democrats back it because public schools in their districts are underperforming and children from low-income families should have better opportunities, others say it hasn’t benefited as many of those children as it should.
Advocates say the scholarships help 9,600 children statewide attend a school of their choice.
Under a proposal introduced last month to extend the program through 2028, the maximum annual credits awarded by the state would be reduced to $50 million from $75 million. Instead of the current 75% tax credit, the donors would get a 100% credit for the first $5,000 they contribute, then a maximum 65% tax credit for any additional amount if the children they sponsor live in underserved communities, and a maximum 55% credit if the children don’t. Also, the annual limit for tax credits would be reduced to $500,000 from $1 million.
The measure has not been called for a vote and on Wednesday, Rep. Marty Moylan, one of four House Democrats who sponsored the proposal, said its odds are not good.
“Right now, there’s not enough votes to pass it,” said Moylan, of Des Plaines. “I don’t know if it’s going to make it. Time’s running out.”
A couple hundred children have been brought to the state Capitol for the last two days in a show of support for the program, some wearing T-shirts reading “Save my Scholarship.”
Rabbi Shlomo Soroka of Agudath Israel of Illinois, an Orthodox Jewish organization, said he remains hopeful legislators extend the program.
“By failing to act, they’re going to be yanking the rug out from under these kids.” Soroka said. “I’m hoping that lawmakers will do something to ensure that children aren’t hurt.”
The Senate did agree to extend another state law that’s set to expire Dec. 31, voting 42-12 to give another year to a 2018 law that increased minimum prison sentences for repeat gun possession offenders. The proposal still needs approval in the House.
The law was pushed by former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s administration after more than 770 people were slain in the city in 2016, but Mayor Brandon Johnson opposes an extension. Crime statistics provide no clear evidence that the law has had any impact in reducing gun violence.
State Rep. Will Guzzardi, a Democrat from Chicago, said he hopes to block the bill in the House. “This is not the kind of policymaking we should be engaged in,” Guzzardi said.
The 12 senators who voted no were all Democrats, most representing districts that cover portions of Chicago.
The main sponsor of the extension was Sen. Patrick Joyce, a Democrat from Reddick in Kankakee County. In a rare bipartisan show of agreement on a criminal justice issue, Senate Republican leader John Curran praised the legislation moments before the vote.
“This is a very complex issue but certainly when we’re talking about those that commit crimes of this intentionality and reckless disregard for safety, I think it is a good proposal,” said Curran, of Downers Grove, a former Cook County prosecutor.
In a bipartisan 44-7 vote, the Senate approved a measure to lift a nearly 40-year-old moratorium on the construction of nuclear power plants in the state. The proposal from GOP Sen. Sue Rezin of Morris addresses concerns from Pritzker, who vetoed a bill passed in the spring, by setting limits on the size of reactors that would be allowed, among other provisions.
While the governor has said he supports the idea of allowing a new generation of small modular reactors to be built in Illinois to aid with the meeting the state’s goal of carbon-free power generation by midcentury, his veto message said the proposal lawmakers approved in the spring also would have opened the door to large-scale reactors, which he opposes.
Rezin’s proposal, which now heads to the House, has support from the governor’s office.
“Nuclear provides clean, reliable and secure energy that we can count on to help reach our clean energy goals here in Illinois,” Rezin said before the vote. “With the passage of this legislation, we provider our state the opportunity to truly embrace the next generation of nuclear technology and all the benefits that it offers.”
Some environmentalists, who were buoyed by Pritzker’s veto, remain opposed to lifting the moratorium.
