As school choice continues to be stifled in Illinois, House Minority Leader Tony McCombie has made strides to advocate for Illinois families and work with the federal government to make it a reality.
Last summer, Leader McCombie wrote a letter to congressional leadership in support of the federal Educational Choice for Children Act saying, “I believe our best foot forward is to empower parents to choose the learning environments that best meets their children’s individual needs. Regardless of funding debates, we must recognize that traditional public schools cannot be the only option available to families, particularly in underserved communities.”
She has gone a step further to file legislation in the Illinois House to hit her priority home. Her two bills include:
- HB4098: requires the State Board of Education to create a list of scholarship organizations that meet the requirements of Section 70411 of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act to facilitate opting the State of Illinois into the school choice tax credit provisions of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
- HB4099: requires the State Board to create a list of scholarship organizations and grants the State Board the authority to transmit the list to the federal government to opt Illinois organizations into the federal tax credit.
The Educational Choice for Children Act, signed into law by President Donald Trump on July 2, 2025, creates a federal tax credit for donations to approved scholarship organizations– which include funds for tutoring, fees for enrollment, educational therapies for students and other academic programs. For Illinois to take advantage of this tax credit, the state must opt-in to allow its students to accept the donations. The state, under direction from Governor Pritzker, has failed to do so.
According to a report by the Illinois Policy Institute, while at least 28 other states benefit from this tax credit, Illinois does not. Further, Governor JB Pritzker has until January 1, 2027 to opt-in to this credit.
McCombie will continue her advocacy to help students, parents, and overall education in the state.