Dupage Policy Journal

Despite coming from generations of private school learners, State Rep. Anne Stava-Murray (D-Downers Grove) voted for the state budget that did not include the Invest In Kids Tax Scholarship Program. 

The program serves nearly 9,400 low-income children by providing tax benefits to donors who fund scholarships for children to attend private schools. Stava-Murray, a Benet Academy graduate, is one of many Illinois legislators who has benefitted from private schools. She discussed her history of attending elite private schools in a 2021 Deep Dive DuPage podcast. 

“So my dad and all his siblings went to Benet,” Stava-Murray said on the podcast. “And then my grandfather's family, my grandfather, he went to Fenwick, didn't graduate, he was kind of the black sheep. But all of his brothers and sisters went to St. Procopius and the Abbey and the women's school at the time when they were separate. So they went to both of those schools. So we had a long history and actually, if you go in front of – I think where the nuns live, I'm going to forget the name of it right now – but if you go in front of where the nuns live, you can see a statue that's donated from my great grandfather, Frank Scott.” 

The Invest In Kids scholarship program has allowed many low-income children to attend Benet Academy where 99% of graduates go on to higher education.

“Due to the overwhelming generosity of numerous members of the Benet family, over $1.66 million has been allocated directly to Benet students through our SGO, Empower Illinois, during the first two years of the program. This has enabled 141 Benet students to be awarded Invest in Kids Tax Credit scholarships ranging from 50% - 100% of our tuition,” Benet Academy said of the program on its website.

Stava-Murray is one of 35 of Illinois' 177 state legislators who attended private high schools. The private high school graduates include ten Republicans and 25 Democrats, 15 of whom were raised in the City of Chicago, according to Prairie State Wire.

Missing from the 3,500 pages of the state’s $50.5 billion budget was funding needed for the continuation of the Invest In Kids Tax Credit Scholarship Program. The program allows donors to receive a tax benefit for donating to a state-maintained scholarship program for private schools for low-income families. 

“This is not something that’s been covered by the budget agreement," Gov. J.B. Pritzker said, confirming the exclusion of the program from the budget in a press conference. "It’s something that still has time, potentially, but it’s not something that’s in the budget agreement.”

Corey DeAngelis, executive director of the Educational Freedom Institute, called Pritzker, Senate President Don Harmon and House Speaker Emanuel "Chris" Welch, all Democrats, “a bunch of hypocrites” for not extending the program. 

"Illinois Democrats just killed the state’s private school choice program," DeAngelis tweeted. "Governor J.B. Pritzker (D) went to private school & sent his kids to private school. Senate President Harmon (D) & House Speaker Welch (D) also sent their kids to private school. A bunch of hypocrites.”