Illinois Senate Republicans press for a §25F opt-in in the session's final week: 'We will be left out and left behind'

With the 2026 spring session winding down, Illinois Senate Republicans made a public push to advance two bipartisan bills that would opt the state into the federal Scholarship Tax Credit (FSTC / ECCA / §25F), the new program that lets donors claim a credit of up to $1,700 for gifts to scholarship granting organizations and that launches January 1, 2027. The vehicles are SB3776, whose chief sponsor is Democratic Sen. Adriane Johnson, and SB3850, sponsored by Senate Republican Leader John Curran of Downers Grove. Both were referred to the Senate Assignments Committee in February and, as of the GOP push in the week of May 18, both remained parked there without having been called for a hearing. The federal credit requires a state to affirmatively opt in before its residents can participate, which is why the calendar, and the committee, matter so much.

The Republican strategy in the final week was to build visible momentum through co-sponsors. Senate records show Curran signed on as a co-sponsor of Johnson's SB3776 on May 18, 2026, and Sen. Li Arellano Jr. was added the following day, part of a flurry of GOP names attached to both measures between May 18 and May 20. The cross-party signal cut both ways: on the Democratic side, only Johnson and Sen. David Koehler (added as a co-sponsor of SB3776 on March 3) had publicly backed the opt-in, leaving the bipartisan bill short of the broad majority-caucus support it would need to move. Curran framed the stakes as competitive and time-sensitive, telling colleagues that “time is of the essence” ahead of the January 1, 2027 deadline. Donors, he warned, “are going to go to other states if Illinois does not opt in. We will be left out and left behind.”

Republicans also made an economic case. Sen. Jil Tracy of Quincy called the credit a “no-brainer,” arguing it could unlock roughly $1 billion in donor-funded scholarships for Illinois students at no direct cost to the state treasury, since the dollars come from private contributions rather than appropriations. Sen. Dave Syverson of Cherry Valley joined the chorus pressing leadership to call the bills. The pitch leaned on the structure of the program: because §25F scholarships are funded by donors who receive the federal credit, supporters argue a state can extend a new education benefit to families simply by adding its scholarship organizations to the federal list, without cutting a check from its own budget. That framing is exactly what makes the opt-in decision politically charged in a state where the teachers' unions and many Democratic legislators view the credit as a federal voucher in disguise.

Despite the late push, neither SB3776 nor SB3850 was advanced out of Assignments before the chamber's attention moved on, and both remained stuck in committee as the GOP effort played out. For Illinois families, donors, and prospective scholarship organization founders, the practical takeaway is that the state had not opted in as of this reporting, which means the federal credit will not be available to Illinois residents at launch unless the legislature acts in a future session or special session. We track Illinois' status, and every other state's, on our Illinois state page and the broader state participation map. Operators weighing whether to stand up a scholarship granting organization can review how the program works in our explainers and find existing organizations in our SGO directory.