Illinois gets low marks in educational freedom report

(The Center Square) – A public policy research organization is out with its annual educational freedom report card for states, with Illinois appearing in the bottom half.

The Heritage Foundation’s annual K-12 report card evaluates states based on numerous education criteria, including education freedom, teacher freedom, academic transparency, and the return on investment for education spending.

Illinois ranked 34th overall, 37th for academic transparency, but 50th in the country for return on investment for education spending.

Last fall, Illinois lawmakers declined to renew the Invest in Kids tax scholarship program. Since 2017, the program had allowed residents and businesses to donate up to $1.3 million a year to scholarship funds and receive a 75% income tax credit on those donations. In 2023, the program provided scholarships to about 15,000 students.

“Most states right now are, if not looking intently at adopting school choice, at least considering how they might provide more options for families so for us that is a nonnegotiable bottom line moving toward education freedom,” said Linsey Burke, Heritage Foundation director of the Center for Education Policy.

The report card ranked Florida No. 1 for education freedom, followed by Arizona, Utah, Louisiana, and Iowa.

Shelby Doyle, with the National School Choice Awareness Foundation, says surveys show more parents want more options.

“They want their kids to be in the right fit for them,” said Doyle. “The flux and transition of the past few years has really opened parents' eyes on how many different options there are.”

The report card ranked Oregon, Connecticut and Hawaii at the bottom due to “limited alternatives to assigned district schools and insufficient transparency for parents.”

"State lawmakers are courageously responding to the demands of parents who want excellence in education, not the woke ideology that’s poisoned our government-run schools,” said Heritage president Kevin Roberts.