Illinois School Choice Hypocrisy Map

Sen. Dick Durbin told the Senate he sent his three children to Catholic schools at family expense, then spent years fighting publicly financed private-school aid — including as an original cosponsor of a 2026 bill to repeal the federal scholarship tax credit.

House Speaker Chris Welch’s children have attended Timothy Christian Schools, and he announced his son’s move to Nazareth Academy — while he refused to call Invest in Kids extension bills and let Illinois’ private-school scholarship tax credit expire.

Stacy Davis Gates, who leads the Chicago Teachers Union and the Illinois Federation of Teachers, opposes voucher and tax-credit scholarship programs — and confirmed she moved her eldest son from CPS to a private Catholic high school.