Federal scholarship program can build the workforce suburban businesses need
Manufacturers in Elk Grove Village, construction firms in DuPage County and automotive shops throughout the suburbs share a common challenge: finding workers with the technical skills to fill available jobs.
Illinois has an opportunity to help students earn trade credentials and connect suburban employers with skilled workers — without creating another state program or raising taxes. Gov. JB Pritzker should take it.
The Federal Scholarship Tax Credit program, also known as the Education Freedom Tax Credit, would allow Illinois students to use privately donated scholarship money for career and technical education. But those funds will be available only if Pritzker opts Illinois into the program by Jan. 1.
More than 30 states plan to participate in the program, including New York, Virginia and Colorado. Illinois should join them.
Nearly half Illinois public high school students participated in career and technical education during the 2024-25 school year. The federal program could expand those opportunities by helping students afford tools, uniforms, supplies and registration fees associated with courses in welding, construction, automotive technology, electrical work, agriculture, manufacturing and more.
Those expenses could be enough to keep a student from enrolling, even when the course itself is free. Scholarship funds could remove that barrier and give more young people early exposure to careers that do not require a four-year degree.
Students also could use scholarship funds for qualifying expenses tied to dual-credit courses. These programs allow students to earn high school and college credit simultaneously, but families can still face costs for tuition, fees, books or materials, depending on the agreement between the high school and community college.
Helping students meet those costs would allow more of them to graduate with progress toward a credential, certificate or apprenticeship. It would also give suburban employers a larger pool of workers prepared to enter technical fields.
That matters because Illinois has struggled to create jobs.
From 2018 to 2025, Illinois ranked 45th in the nation for overall nonfarm payroll growth and 46th for private-sector job growth. Its preliminary unemployment rate was 4.9% in July, compared with 4.1% nationally when more than 300,000 Illinois residents were looking for work.
Wage growth has also lagged. After adjusting for regional price parity, Illinois recorded the seventh-slowest hourly wage growth in the nation from 2018 to 2025. The state fell from 13th in average hourly wages before Pritzker took office to 26th in 2025.
The Federal Scholarship Tax Credit will not resolve every obstacle holding back Illinois’ economy. The state still has the nation’s third-highest corporate income tax rate and remains among the least tax-competitive states. Those policies discourage the private investment needed to create jobs.
But opting into the program would be a practical step toward connecting Illinois students with the positions employers need to fill.
The benefits aren’t exclusive to public school students taking career and technical education courses. The private Chicago Hope Academy’s Trades Pathway offers building trades courses for juniors and seniors through partnerships with Illinois trade unions. Students receive technical training and preparation for opportunities such as electrical apprenticeships. The federal program could help expand access to similar private models while also bolstering public school families.
Illinois already promotes itself as a national leader in workforce development, with a strong university pipeline that brings in and fosters a lot of young talent. But to maintain a well-rounded economy that reputation must extend into the trades and other careers.
Pritzker has until Jan. 1 to decide. Hopefully he decides to give Illinois students another route into good-paying careers and suburban businesses a stronger pool of prepared potential employees.
Matt Paprocki is the president and CEO of Illinois Policy.