Two Largest Unions in Illinois Join National Letter of Educators Urging Democratic Governors to Keep Out of Trump's Federal Voucher Scheme

Open letter signed by 28 state educator union leaders calls on Democratic governors to protect public education, prevent voucher program from diverting public funds to private schools

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WESTMONT, IL - The Illinois Federation of Teachers and the Illinois Education Association on Wednesday joined educator union leaders from across the country in urging governors to reject participation in President Trump's federal private school voucher tax credit program and publicly reaffirm their commitment to public education.

In an open letter to Democratic governors, 28 educator union presidents representing millions of teachers, school staff, and public employees are urging the governors to keep their states out of the program.

“Public education is one of the Democratic Party’s defining commitments,” the national letter states. “At this moment, educators, parents and communities across the country are asking a simple question: Will Democratic governors stand up for public schools?”

“Democratic governors are being handed a test right now. Will you stand up for public school students or will you help Donald Trump normalize a voucher scheme that Illinois has already rejected? The Democratic Party platform opposes vouchers, our governors should too,” said Stacy Davis Gates, IFT President, who spearheaded the effort alongside the President of the NY State United Teachers (NYSUT). “The Illinois General Assembly already said no to vouchers because they funded discrimination and diverted $315 million from our state’s General Revenue Fund to private schools. Now Trump is repackaging the same failed experiment as a federal tax credit, and Democratic governors across the country are being asked to give it a stamp of approval. Every governor who opts in colludes with Donald Trump at the expense of their own public schools. Illinois should not be one of them. The governor owes our students $6 billion from pre-K to PhD. Illinois should be making good on what it owes our students, not considering a program that will take even more resources away from them.”

NYSUT President Melinda Person added, "Let's be honest about what's happening here: this would completely change how public schools are funded, and the biggest winners will be the people trying to privatize public education. This isn't free money. Every dollar comes attached to a policy choice, and the choice is whether we're willing to normalize vouchers and move further down a path that has already hurt public schools in state after state. Democratic governors should not help legitimize a scheme that benefits private interests while undermining the public schools that serve 90 percent of our children."

“Governor Pritzker can send a powerful statement to all Illinois students and families by saying ‘no’ to Trump’s voucher scheme. This is a moment to lead, once again, like he has on the statewide ban on book bans, free universal mental health screenings and expanded preschool, and prove to our students and their families that he has their backs. We hope he will stand with the governors of Wisconsin, Kentucky, Minnesota and Arizona and reject vouchers. As it stands now, more than 60 percent of public schools are underfunded in Illinois. The federal plan, much like Illinois’ recently lapsed “Invest in Kids” program, takes tax dollars away from public schools and gives that money to private schools. In Illinois, it drained up to $75 million in state money from schools that educate 90 percent of our students. Our public schools are engines of opportunity, community focal points, and places where every child is welcome to grow and thrive,” said IEA President Karl Goeke.

Across the country, states that have implemented voucher schemes are witnessing public dollars go to private religious schools with no standards, no oversight, and no safeguards against discrimination. Florida’s voucher program was audited and $270 million in taxpayer funds is completely missing. In Arizona, 62% of voucher funds, critical dollars diverted from public infrastructure, went to children in wealthy families. Millions of Wisconsin taxpayer dollars are being diverted to private schools that are allowed to discriminate against students.

The voucher decision comes at a time where the governor and General Assembly's denial of funds to school districts is causing cuts to students’ classrooms and care across the state. Illinois had already rejected voucher programs that moved public dollars into private institutions that discriminated against students whose families didn’t fit their religious beliefs and excluded students with disabilities, among others.

In February 2026, IFT Executive Vice President Cyndi Oberle-Dahm called the Illinois Policy Institute's campaign to place a misleadingly worded voucher referendum on county primary ballots "a ploy" by a group that "has been able to lie their way into getting almost two dozen Illinois jurisdictions to spend taxpayer money on a media stunt."

In Madison County, paraprofessional Latoshia Thomas wrote in the Edwardsville Intelligencer about the reality of educating students with disabilities in an already-underfunded district: "If Illinois opts in to the federal voucher program, the financial situation in our district and nearly every district in the state will get worse, while the wealthy Illinoisans who donate to the program would get bigger tax credits."

In Winnebago County, Harlem Federation of Teachers President Elana Schelling-Tufte wrote in the Rockford Register Star that the $1,700 voucher "does not come close to covering private school tuition, and it does not create opportunities for a child with special needs, since private schools are not required to provide those services."

In March, IFT joined the Illinois Education Association in calling on Governor Pritzker to act, stating that the program is "unregulated, unaccountable, and designed to divert resources away from the schools that serve the overwhelming majority of Illinois students and into private institutions that are not required to serve every child."

The federal voucher program is a cornerstone of Project 2025. Evidence from states that have implemented similar programs shows that while they are billed as "school choice," they overwhelmingly subsidize families already enrolled in private schools while creating significant fiscal pressures on public education systems.

In the letter, union presidents note that the 2024 Democratic National Committee platform explicitly opposed “private-school vouchers, tuition tax credits, opportunity scholarships, and other schemes that divert taxpayer-funded resources away from public education.”

“Democratic governors have long served as a firewall against efforts to dismantle public institutions,” the letter concludes. “We urge you to continue that leadership now.”

The full, signed letter can be found here.

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The Illinois Federation of Teachers (IFT) represents 105,000 teachers and paraprofessionals in PreK-12 school districts throughout Illinois, faculty and staff at Illinois’ community colleges and universities, public employees under every statewide elected constitutional officer, and retirees.