As election comes, I would like to know why you may or may not support pritzker. I have republican parents and they blame all the high prices and taxes on pritzker, I haven’t had a way of seeing the other side as I’m not heavy into politics. My folks always profess that the state will become unlivable if pritzker is elected, this and that. They claim all the money goes it Chicago, etc etc. so I’d like to hear POV’s from both sides. I’m 18 and this would be my first year that I could vote.

Jennifer Todd has shown herself as a caring and compassionate person who will always work hard for us Please vote for her and if possible donate to her campaign

https://www.jentodd2026.us/

So I noticed these today in rural Illinois… around Pontiac and when driving on farm roads through… is there a candidate that is suggesting sharia law? I’m so out of the loop here

https://www.stlmag.com/business/terrawatt-pitches-data-center-for-alton-steel-property/?utm_content=387916160&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&hss_channel=fbp-78564012083&fbclid=IwRlRTSAVF5rNleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBwZG9mBWZkaWQWUQu9eQhkKerUrTWqkpjX37yV_k0_k3NydGMGYXBwX2lkCjY2Mjg1NjgzNzkAAR6DLp4v0-7B9Yt6UpB3FAaqokbwnqoXp5ZeG1BOZ064jU0QcEjZKlu_lr_Hpw_aem_EttPvhspR5cCu_43GcdDuw

Doom scrolling facebook (I know, I know) and my feed is of course lambasted with political posts. Not sure if I never paid enough attention to local politics before but there is such a stark difference in comments on the post directed towards the muslim candidate who is running for senate 26th district. It’s not bots because I recognize the people’s profiles from my neighborhood groups too. Leaving a bad taste in my mouth about people I know in passing. So many unnecessary disparaging comments.

I can see why people tune the midterms out. It’s depressing knowing how people really think where you live.

Source: https://x.com/quigleycampaign/status/2112956894298120477

I've been reading up on this for a few weeks and I'm surprised how little anyone is talking about it, so here goes.

Starting Jan 1, there's a new federal tax credit for donating to scholarship nonprofits. It came out of last year's big federal tax bill. You can give up to $1,700 and you get the whole $1,700 back as a credit on your federal taxes. Not a deduction, an actual credit. So basically you're choosing to send $1,700 of your federal taxes to a scholarship fund instead of to the IRS.

The scholarships go to K-12 kids from families making up to 300% of the local median income. They can be used for private school tuition, but also tutoring, therapies for kids with disabilities, books, that kind of stuff. Public school kids can use them too.

Here's the catch. Kids only get the money if the governor opts the state in. 31 states have done it already, including New York and Colorado, so it's not just a red state thing. Illinois hasn't. Pritzker's office says he's "reviewing the rules" and hasn't said when he'll decide. The deadline for 2027 is Jan 1.

Why I think he should opt in:

• It doesn't cost Illinois anything. It's all federal tax money. Nothing comes out of the state budget.
• Our money leaves either way. This is the part that gets me. Illinois people can donate and get the credit whether or not we opt in. If we don't, that money just goes to kids in Indiana or Wisconsin or wherever. We'd be paying for other states' scholarships and getting nothing back.
• It helps public school kids too. There are something like 375,000 kids with disabilities in Illinois public schools whose families could use help paying for therapy or tutoring.
• Invest in Kids is gone. Illinois killed its own scholarship program after 2023 and a lot of lower-income families lost their aid. Some had to pull their kids out of the school they'd been at for years. And schools closed. The Archdiocese of Chicago alone has announced at least 8 closures since then: 2 in Cicero and Berwyn in 2024, where Invest in Kids covered tuition for more than half the students, and 6 more this year, with roughly 800 kids between them. The archdiocese pointed to losing Invest in Kids both times. A lot of those kids end up in public schools, and every one of them now costs the local district over $20K a year to educate. Before, the district wasn't spending a dime on them. This would help fill that hole.

This one's personal for me. My family benefited from Invest in Kids when I went back to school. Money was tight, and that scholarship made a real difference for us. I'd like to pay that forward. If Illinois doesn't opt in, I'm still going to donate, it'll just have to go to a program in another state. I'd much rather the money stay here and help Illinois kids.

I know the teachers unions are against it. Their main argument is that if kids leave for private schools, public schools lose enrollment-based funding. And yeah, that's true, they would lose some. But think about what a school actually loses when one kid leaves. Most Illinois school funding is local property taxes, and those don't go down when a kid switches schools. The state aid tied to that one kid is a lot less than what the district spends per student, which is now over $20K a year. So the district loses a slice of state money but no longer has to educate that kid, and the money left over gets spread across fewer students. Per kid, the public school actually ends up with more, not less.

The other thing is that saying no doesn't keep any money in Illinois public schools. The donations still happen. They just go to other states.

If you agree, it takes two minutes to tell the governor's office. There's a contact form on gov.illinois.gov, or you can call. Just say you live in Illinois and want him to opt in to the Federal Scholarship Tax Credit before Jan 1.

Curious what people here think, especially teachers or parents who used Invest in Kids.

Way better than Taco Bell .

Yay tacos and Illinois

I just can't go until next year due to my job