Correcting the math on tax credit program

I wish to correct an error in my most recent Daily Herald letter regarding the Illinois Invest in Kids Scholarship Tax Credit program. In my original letter, I inadvertently calculated the tax credit at 75% of the tax owed by the donor on the donation. It is actually 75% of the donation. This means that the cost of the program to the state in tax credits is higher than what people would be led to believe in my original letter. When using the correct cost for the tax credit in my analysis, the numbers show that the state can still educate more students for a lower cost to taxpayers through the Invest in Kids program than they can without it.

Private high school and elementary school tuitions as of 2021 in Illinois, as provided by www.privateschoolreview.com, are significantly less than the cost of public schools for grade K-12 in Illinois as reported at https://www.publicschoolreview.com/average-spending-student-stats/national-data. When you also consider that the state's money is augmented by Invest in Kids donations (often enhanced when matching grants are involved), you can see how a program that provides an opportunity for a quality education for more children is a win for all constituencies.

The Invest in Kids Scholarship Tax Credit program is a valuable tool for giving parents of low and middle income students a choice when the public school system in which their children are enrolled is failing to deliver on the promise of a quality education.

Pete Gennuso

Schaumburg