Operation Illinois Exodus

The map below shows states with either major school choice expansions or pending major expansions (green). I may be missing some green:

Sadly, the state of Illinois is in red, and seems poised to kill the Invest in Ed tax credit that provides 9,000 low-income Illinois children the opportunity to attend private schools. As the Wall Street Journal explains:

Unions want to kill the program because its popularity showcases the failure of the public schools. Invest in Kids had more than 31,000 applications last year, roughly five students for every scholarship it could provide. Every family lined up for a place at a private school is an indictment of a union monopoly that continues to prioritize its power over student learning.

Allowing the tax credit to sunset and forcing 9,000 students out of the school preferred by their families is, in a word, reprehensible.

A remedy however is available for these families: leave Illinois. Your state lawmakers care much more about rent-seeking special interests than they care about your family or your children. Other states not only value you more; they have much better return on investment for your tax dollars. These families are, alas, living in the wrong state.

Options are plentiful, but they lie outside of this cruelly indifferent state. Let’s consider some options:

Wisconsin: The Badger State has not expanded its choice programs in 2023, but all 9,000 Invest in Ed students, and likely all 31,000 waitlisted students, will likely qualify for one of Wisconsin’s private choice program.

Note that Milwaukee is a train ride from Chicago, and Wisconsin is a state whose laws will provide K-12 options, lower taxes, and far more solvent public sector pensions. In other words, it is a far better governed state that is delightfully free from the need to imprison governors on a regular basis. Milwaukee is the new Chicago, check it out.

To Illinois’ immediate west lies Iowa, which delightfully just passed a universal private choice program. For decades, Iowa taxpayers have supported first-tier research universities only to watch many graduates move to Chicago. Chicago was once a great American city, but the smart money has already begun to leave. It’s time for Iowa to reverse the flow.

Even closer to Chicago lies Indiana. All the students who qualified for Invest in Ed will also qualify for the Indiana Choice Scholarship Program. Students with disabilities can qualify for the Indiana Education Scholarship Account Program.

Wisconsin, Iowa, and Indiana all constitute much, much better options for young families than Illinois, but this is not to say that they necessarily constitute the best option, which (obviously) lies in Arizona. Arizona not only has universal private choice, the nation’s strongest charter school sector and a low-and-flat income tax, and your Cubs have spring training here.

People having been moving from Chicagoland to Arizona for decades and Arizona has room for more! Did I mention that Arizona is delightful in the winter? Golfing in the winter looks like this:

Last but not least, Florida has become the migration colossus of the United States. Other states will need to bring their “A-game” if they want to compete.

Feel free to make a case for your state in our blog’s comments.

The United States is gripped by a baby bust that began in 2008. Starting round about next year, this cohort will age into the working-age population. Young people are not just an increasingly scarce resource, they are the future for their states.

Illinois has over 2,000,000 students. Other states should try to rescue all of them.


Avatar photo

BY Matthew Ladner

Matthew Ladner is executive editor of NextSteps. He has written numerous studies on school choice, charter schools and special education reform, and his articles have appeared in Education Next; the Catholic Education: A Journal of Inquiry and Practice; and the British Journal of Political Science. He is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin and received a master's degree and a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Houston. He lives in Phoenix with his wife and three children.