Editor’s note: This article appeared Tuesday on illinoispolicy.org.
Manuel Rodriguez’ advertising business lost income during the pandemic, so his family had to cut back. They refused to give up their children’s private education, and it cost them a car.
“In 2020, unfortunately, we didn’t receive Invest In Kids scholarships for either of our children. It affected us a lot because there wasn’t a lot of work, either. We had to reduce our expenses, and even still we fought hard to keep both our kids in private school. We had to sell a car in order to stay afloat financially,” Rodriguez said.
Along with the Rodriguez children, 7,600 low-income students in Illinois rely on Invest in Kids tax credit scholarships to maintain that stability in their education. Whether for personal values, educations that better fit their learning needs, safety or financial reasons, over four times that number want help to attend a qualified, non-public school.
Over 32,000 are on the Empower Illinois waitlist alone.
“The scholarships help us a lot because I am self-employed, and I don’t always have a fixed income. On my own, it would be very difficult to afford the tuition and fees at our local private school. The scholarship has helped me to keep my kids in a good school,” Rodriguez said.
Empower Illinois reported the average annual household income of participants is $38,000, and 49% of participating students are Black or Hispanic.
For the Rodriguez family, the switch to private school came out of fear for their son’s safety at their local public school.
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