By Cole Lauterbach/Illinois Radio Network
SPRINGFIELD – After overwhelming demand crashed the website, the largest providers of Illinois’ private school scholarships is ready to start accepting more applications for K-12 private school tuition assistance.
When Illinois’ Invest in Kids private school scholarship program went live on Empower Illinois’ website Jan. 31, more than 24,000 applications hit its servers in a matter of moments, causing it to crash. Empower Illinois is ready to handle the flood of applications for tuition assistance and will reopen availability at 7 p.m. Feb. 27.
“The turnout we had was historical in terms of a first-day for a program like this,” Empower director Myles Mendoza said.
The crash left parents upset that some kids were going to get help to attend a school of their choice while others were left to apply for the smaller pool of money.
In response, private donors stepped in.
“The generosity of our donors are supporting roughly $1.2 million,” Mendoza said. “We wanted to make sure that the original dollars that were available on the 31st of January are also exactly the same when we relaunch on the 27th.”
The money already granted to the first 134 kids via other donated funds, Mendoza said, is spread across the state to “Champaign, Springfield, Peoria, Chicago and covered Catholic, Jewish, Lutheran, Muslim, Christian and secular schools.”
All of the students granted early scholarships were from low-income families, with a median adjusted gross income of $30,898, he said. Eighty-eight are applying their tuition assistance to elementary school, 18 to middle school and 28 high school students.
The Invest in Kids program has been criticized by public school unions for sapping state money and students from their classrooms.
As of Wednesday, $45.6 million in pledged donations have been registered with the Illinois Department of Revenue. Donors get a 75 percent tax rebate on their Illinois tax bills.
Some Democrats in the General Assembly are pushing for legislation that would likely shut the program down.
