Richard Boykin: Democrats, don’t repeat the GOP’s health care mistake on education

CHICAGO TRIBUNE OPINION

BY RICHARD BOYKIN

NOVEMBER 12, 2026

I remember when then-Maine Republican Gov. Paul LePage declared in 2018 that he would rather go to jail than expand Medicaid under President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act. Billions of federal dollars were available to cover low-income residents at almost no cost to the state, yet he turned them down to make a political point. 

Democrats such as me shook our heads. Who refuses free federal money that could save lives and strengthen communities just because it came from the other party? At the time, we saw it as the height of partisan foolishness. He even defied the voters who approved a ballot initiative to expand Maine’s Medicaid program.

But today, Illinois Democrats are doing the same thing — turning down federal dollars that could transform the lives of low-income students simply because the program originated under a Republican president.

I saw it firsthand on a crisp fall night during a 7th Congressional District candidate forum hosted by Citizen Action of Illinois and the Illinois Federation of Teachers. The auditorium was packed — educators, parents, longtime neighborhood activists — and the energy was electric. When the moderator asked whether Illinois should opt in to the new federal tax-credit scholarship program, every Democratic candidate on stage, with one exception, said no. I was the lone “yes.”

During the discussion that followed, it became painfully clear that my opponents had not read the bill. One said he would oppose anything connected to Donald Trump.

That kind of thinking is worse than short-sighted — it’s reckless. I’m no fan of Trump, but if his administration is offering Illinois nearly a billion dollars to help children read, learn and thrive, I am claiming our share of those resources on behalf of kids in our state who so desperately need it.

Good ideas don’t wear jerseys. Leadership isn’t about who gets the credit; it’s about who gets the help.

If Democrats truly believe in equity, we should be leading the charge to bring every possible resource to children who are falling behind. Instead, too many in our party are letting fear of political backlash block solutions that would help Black and brown students most.

Philosopher John Locke called education the great safeguard of liberty. Here in Illinois, our system is failing that test. Even after the state lowered proficiency standards in reading and math, racial gaps keep widening.

The 2025 Illinois Report Card showed that only 17.4% of Black fourth graders and 36.7% of Black eighth graders scored proficient or better in math, compared with 55.4% and 66.6% of white students. Just 38% of students met math proficiency standards in 2025, and science proficiency dropped from 53.1% to 44.6% in one year.

So here’s my question for Gov. JB Pritzker: Why wouldn’t we take this deal?

He has said he would have signed an extension of Illinois’ Invest in Kids scholarship program if the legislature had sent it to his desk. Springfield being what it is, the legislature dropped the ball.

In any case, this federal program is different. It doesn’t drain public schools; it supplements them. It’s designed to help every student who needs extra support, no matter where they learn.

Even Arne Duncan, secretary of education under President Barack Obama, put it plainly in The Washington Post: “Opting in doesn’t take a single dollar from state education budgets. It simply opens the door to new, private donations, at no cost to taxpayers, that can support students in public and nonpublic settings alike.”

If you ask a single parent whose child is struggling to read — if they would like additional tutoring at no cost — the answer would be yes. Refusing this opportunity doesn’t protect teachers or students; it protects the status quo. And the status quo is failing.

Education is a human right, not a privilege for the wealthy or a bargaining chip in political fights. Leaders have to make tough choices. But rarely is a choice as simple as the one presented here.

If a billion dollars can help children read, we take it. If a billion dollars can help families breathe, we take it. If a billion dollars can close the gap, we take it.

 Illinois should opt in — and start choosing courage over comfort.

Richard Boykin is a former Cook County commissioner and a candidate in Illinois’ 7th Congressional District.

Reprinted from the Chicago Tribune