This is the Cato Daily Podcast for Friday, September 22nd, 2017.

I'm Caleb Brown.

Illinois is now the largest Blue State to adopt a tax credit scholarship school choice program.

At the State Policy Network annual meeting I spoke with Jason Bedrick of Ed Choice about

what it means that so many states are adopting tax credit programs for

K-12 schooling. Tax credit scholarships are something that are you know it's near

and dear to your heart of course you're from New Hampshire and

New Hampshire and now has a tax credit scholarship plan that is growing in popularity. Many states have adopted these.

They are very strong in terms of withholding, with standing constitutional scrutiny, and now Illinois, as you noted before we started recording is the largest

blue state to adopt tax credit scholarships. Why did they do it? What was the

what was the thing that made it

happen? Right, so there was a battle over the school funding bill between the

governor and the legislature. The governor wanted pension reform. The legislature was not in a mood to give it to him

and it seems that they compromised by giving the governor this tax credit scholarship program.

Illinois is now the 18th state in the nation to adopt tax credit

scholarships.

Like vouchers, they help students attend the school of their choice.

The differences that whereas a voucher is publicly funded, tax credit scholarships are privately funded.

So individual or corporate donors

make contributions to nonprofit scholarship organizations.

In return, they get a tax credit.

In Illinois, it's a 75% tax credit in other states it ranges

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