Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Urges Illinois to Protect Public Education and Oppose Federal Voucher Program
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 5, 2026
Contact:
Zindy Marquez
zmarquez@clccrul.org
Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Urges Illinois to Protect Public Education and Oppose Federal Voucher Program
CHICAGO, IL — Following last week’s release of federal regulations for the national school voucher program, Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights strongly urges Governor Pritzker to opt Illinois out of this program.
Last year, the Trump administration passed the first national school voucher program in the "One Big Beautiful Bill," a program that will create a tax credit to subsidize school vouchers, diverting public funds away from public schools and into private institutions. This is part of a broader plan by this federal administration to dismantle public education. We have already seen it in their efforts to gut the Department of Education, dismantle the Office for Civil Rights, and cut programs that support low-income students, students with disabilities, and students of color.
The regulations issued last week confirm that the new federal tax credit voucher program is designed to benefit private schools and raise concerns about public accountability and the protection of civil rights. The regulations do not allow states to impose their own regulations or guardrails on the program. With zero structure of accountability, private schools and religious schools could discriminate based on protected classes, against students with disabilities, and violate other civil rights protections.
“A strong public education system is critical to a healthy democracy, and in the face of these damaging efforts at the federal level, Illinois must reject the federal school voucher program,” said Aneel Chablani, Vice President and Legal Director with Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights. “Diverting public funds to private school vouchers leaves public schools with even fewer resources to meet the needs of students at a time when many schools already face severe underfunding. Instead, Illinois must commit to supporting a vibrant, fully-resourced public education system that serves all students.”
Voucher programs have a long history rooted in resistance to integration movements after the Brown v. Board of Education decision made segregation in public schools unconstitutional. White families in the South that were resistant to integration found a loophole in this SCOTUS decision by creating "state tuition grants" for students to attend private schools that refused to admit Black students – the early version of a school voucher using public funds.
While proponents of school vouchers claim they offer educational choices to families who want to pull their children from their neighborhood public schools, the data has shown that most families who earn a tax credit and use school vouchers were already attending private schools to begin with. School vouchers do not aid low-income students of color and instead benefit already wealthy families with a tax credit.
Given the systemically racist history of school vouchers, the significant civil rights concerns around the administrative process of these programs, and the reality that vouchers primarily benefit those already attending private schools, Chicago Lawyers' Committee strongly opposes Illinois' participation in the federal tax credit voucher program.
Public schools are the heart of our communities. We strongly urge Governor Pritzker to protect our public schools so that all students can have access to a quality education, not just the select, wealthy few who will take advantage of the federal voucher program.
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