Discover and read the best of Twitter Threads about #VouchersFundDiscrimination
Most recents (4)
Glad to hear Gov Pritzker hasn’t made a final decision to support Invest in Kids, but we sincerely hope he isn’t actually willing to sign just ANYTHING ILGA sends him on vouchers. Invest in Kids is simply bad public policy bc it harms the public good. thedailyline.com/future-invest-…
Back in 2018, when he was running for office, Gov Pritzker was very clear on his opposition to vouchers so we know he understood their flaws at that point: ilfps.org/ilgov2018candi… 
Invest in Kids Act is no better 5 years later. Among a *very* long list of reasons it needs to end, it uses Illinois tax dollars to fund virulently homophobic & transphobic institutions that teach kids about fire-breathing dinosaurs. That's not high-quality education. Period.
Want your child—as Betsy DeVos' lobbyist says—to "attend a quality school that’s religiously-affiliated" in IL using Invest in Kids $? Do they have a disability? Identify as LGBTQ+? Belong to one of dozens of religions without a school? Well, too bad! #VouchersFundDiscrimination
Are you not religious at all? in 2010, largest share of IL pop. didn't belong to any religious group at all; 46% non-adherents acc to Assoc of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies (data mapped here from 2020) thearda.com/us-religion/ce…
But 95% of private schools taking Invest in Kids vouchers are religious. Non-religious families aren't welcome at all at many of these schools or have to follow beliefs they disagree with or have their child instructed within a religious environment/system they aren't part of...
Here's an example of how religious beliefs result in discrimination on the basis of LGBTQ+ status. The Diocese of Springfield's policy statement on Gender Identity instructs schools to create discriminatory policies on the basis of gender identity dio.org/wp-content/upl…
These policies are a direct offshoot of the Diocese position on gender identity "A person cannot change his or her gender. A person should accept and seek to live in conformity with his or her sexual identity as determined at birth." dio.org/wp-content/upl…
And they are in direct contradiction to ISBE's non-regulatory guidance, e.g. "Students have the right to be addressed at school by their affirmed name and pronouns and to update their school records to reflect their identity." isbe.net/Documents/ISBE…
IL public schools can't discriminate on the basis of religion, but via the Invest in Kids voucher program, public $$ are funding religious schools. Public funds should be for public schools that serve all children & families no matter their religion. #SunsetInvestInKids
