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| 1 | HOUSE RESOLUTION
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| 2 | WHEREAS, United States Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos | ||||||
| 3 | recently proposed a plan to provide $5 billion a year in | ||||||
| 4 | federal tax credits for donations made to groups offering | ||||||
| 5 | scholarships for private schools, apprenticeships, and other | ||||||
| 6 | educational programs; and
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| 7 | WHEREAS, The Education Freedom Scholarships and | ||||||
| 8 | Opportunity Act would provide a dollar-for-dollar tax credit | ||||||
| 9 | for individuals and businesses that donate in an effort to | ||||||
| 10 | provide scholarships so that children and their families can | ||||||
| 11 | make education decisions that are best for each child; and
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| 12 | WHEREAS, Secretary DeVos called the plan to give students | ||||||
| 13 | more educational choices without diverting money away from | ||||||
| 14 | public schools a "bold proposal"; and
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| 15 | WHEREAS, In 2017, the Illinois General Assembly reached | ||||||
| 16 | bipartisan agreement to implement the Evidence-Based Funding | ||||||
| 17 | for Student Access Act, which dramatically changed the way | ||||||
| 18 | Illinois funds education; and
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| 19 | WHEREAS, Included in the bipartisan compromise was the | ||||||
| 20 | Invest in Kids Act, which established a tax credit for | ||||||
| 21 | individuals and businesses that make a contribution to a | ||||||
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| 1 | scholarship-granting organization, so that low-income students | ||||||
| 2 | across the State are allowed to attend a school of their | ||||||
| 3 | choice; and
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| 4 | WHEREAS, While the Invest in Kids Act is a five-year pilot | ||||||
| 5 | program, Governor Pritzker's Administration has indicated they | ||||||
| 6 | plan to end the Invest in Kids program as soon as possible; | ||||||
| 7 | therefore, be it
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| 8 | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE | ||||||
| 9 | HUNDRED FIRST GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that | ||||||
| 10 | we urge the United States Congress to approve the Education | ||||||
| 11 | Freedom Scholarships and Opportunity Act, so that children and | ||||||
| 12 | their families are able to make decisions about education that | ||||||
| 13 | are most beneficial; and be it further
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| 14 | RESOLVED, That we urge Governor Pritzker to allow the | ||||||
| 15 | Invest in Kids Act to be in full effect for the five years of | ||||||
| 16 | the pilot program as intended by this General Assembly upon | ||||||
| 17 | passage of the Evidence-Based Funding for Student Success Act; | ||||||
| 18 | and be it further
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| 19 | RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | ||||||
| 20 | presented to each member of the Illinois Congressional | ||||||
| 21 | Delegation and to Governor JB Pritzker.
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