A Chicago school board member broke with his own board's resolution and asked Pritzker to opt Illinois into §25F

The people asking Gov. JB Pritzker to opt Illinois into the Education Freedom Tax Credit (also called the Federal Scholarship Tax Credit, ECCA, or §25F) have mostly been Senate Republicans and private-school advocates. On Thursday, August 27, 2026, the ask came from a different direction. At a press conference outside South Loop Elementary School, Chicago Board of Education member Angel Gutierrez, Vienna High School superintendent Joshua Stafford, and Stand for Children Illinois executive director Jessica Handy called on the governor to elect the state in, Chalkbeat Chicago reported.

Gutierrez's presence is the news. In April 2026 the Chicago Board of Education passed a non-binding resolution opposing Illinois participation, and Gutierrez was the only member absent from the vote. On Thursday he said why he would not have supported it. “I think it was politically driven,” he said, adding that “we have to be really cognizant of any type of potential dollars that may help and directly benefit the students.” Stafford, who runs a public high school district in far southern Illinois, made the point that the question in front of the state is no longer whether the credit should exist. “It indeed is a set, settled, and passed law at this point,” he said. “Each state now gets to make a determination.” Handy said Illinois should take “creative and innovative approaches” to make sure access is equitable rather than sit the program out.

That is a public-school coalition making a public-school argument, and it tracks a case that has been building nationally all summer. Under §25F, a scholarship granting organization can fund tutoring, educational therapies for students with disabilities, books, and other qualified expenses for students in public schools, not just private tuition. In July, thirteen national education groups led by the school superintendents' association wrote to Treasury about how to make that side of the program workable, and North Carolina's governor has pushed his state's program toward public-school students. We lay out what the statute allows in EFTC for public schools. The Chicago press conference is the first time that argument has been made in Illinois by people who run public schools.

Where the decision sits has not changed. The General Assembly adjourned its spring session on June 1 with all three opt-in bills dead in committee, so under §25F(g)(1)(B) the election belongs to the governor unless a later law says otherwise. Pritzker's office gave Chalkbeat the same answer it has given since spring: it is “waiting to see what the federal rules look like before deciding whether to join.” That is about to stop being a reason to wait. Treasury has said it expects proposed regulations by the end of September, and the credit takes effect on January 1, 2027. Chalkbeat put the governor's window at roughly four months. There is also pressure from below: the Illinois Policy Institute has run a ballot-question campaign on the program in more than twenty counties this year.

Pritzker is not the only Democratic governor working through this, and the others have gone different ways. Colorado's Jared Polis opted in first among Democrats, and New York's Kathy Hochul said in May she intends to. Hawaii, Minnesota, and Oregon said no. Illinois, Michigan, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, and Connecticut have said nothing final. Thirty states are on the IRS list as of July 24, and none of them is Illinois, which let its own Invest in Kids scholarship credit expire at the end of 2023 and has had no tax-credit scholarship program since.

For anyone in Illinois thinking about the organization side, the part worth doing now does not depend on Springfield. If Pritzker elects in, Illinois has to hand Treasury a list of organizations that meet the federal test on day one: 501(c)(3) status, scholarships for at least ten students who do not all attend the same school, and at least 90% of income spent on scholarships. Organizations that ran under Invest in Kids know most of this already. Work through it with the free SGO builder, read how to start an SGO, check the SGO directory, and follow the decision on the Illinois state page.

The thing to watch is whether the coalition that showed up on Thursday grows. A board member and a downstate superintendent are two voices. If more public-school leaders decide the tutoring and services money is worth having, the governor's calculation changes, because the objection he has heard loudest so far is that the program is for private schools. Thursday was the first sign from inside Illinois public education that it is not.