What are JB Pritzker and Darren Bailey's plans for Illinois education?

Illinois voters heading to the polls on Tuesday, Nov. 3, are facing a stark contrast in how the state’s educational future should be handled. Democratic Governor J.B. Pritzker and Republican challenger Darren Bailey offer fundamentally opposing views on funding, curriculum control, and school choice, northernpublicradio.org reported.

The Record and the Metrics: Pritzker’s Platform

Governor Pritzker’s campaign highlights a measurable rise in state education investments and academic standing. According to campaign materials outlined by northernpublicradio.org, high school graduation rates across Illinois have reached their highest point in at least 15 years.

JB Pritzker was right in 2018. Illinois property taxes were too high, and he promised to lower them.Eight years later, they’re worse, and now he wants you to believe it’s everyone else’s fault.What changed, JB? pic.twitter.com/3myKjntAge

— https://x.com/DarrenBaileyIL/status/2097741434598080698

Financial metrics form the backbone of the incumbent’s pitch. Pritzker points to Monetary Award Program (MAP) grants for low-income college students, noting that state investment has nearly doubled. When he took office, the program paid out just under $400 million per year. That figure climbed to $700 million last year.

Teacher compensation has also shifted dramatically under the current administration. In 2019, the governor signed a bill establishing a $40,000 minimum salary for teachers, up from a previous floor of around $10,000. On a broader scale, U.S. News & World Report ranks Illinois 5th in PreK-12 education and 13th in overall education.

Curriculum Clashes and Past Controversies

The campaign trail has also seen sharp attacks regarding private religious institutions. Pritzker’s campaign has run negative advertisements targeting Full Armor Christian Academy, a southern Illinois religious school founded by Bailey in 2016.

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One prominent ad claims the school teaches that dinosaurs and humans co-existed. When asked about the claim by reporters, Bailey responded, I wasn’t there, adding that he did not know if they lived alongside each other. Fact-checkers note that they did not.

Additional scrutiny from northernpublicradio.org and local reporting outlets in St. Louis during the 2022 face-off between the candidates touched on textbooks previously used at the academy. While a publisher representative told reporters that text regarding women in the workforce was taken out of context, lines addressing slaveowners were acknowledged as coming from an older edition published in the 1990s that the publisher now describes as irresponsible and untrue.

Proficiency Rates and the Funding Debate

Challenger Darren Bailey approaches the state’s educational challenges from a different angle, focusing heavily on baseline student performance. Bailey has asserted that 70% of students do not perform up to their grade level in math and reading.

State data reveals a slightly different picture, though the figures remain grim. Approximately 62% of students fall short of proficiency benchmarks in math, while 47% fail to reach proficiency in reading.

While many educators argue that these deficits stem from chronic underfunding—even with significant funding increases under Pritzker—Bailey pushes back against that premise. He contends that money is not the answer to every problem, though his campaign website states he would fight to ensure schools are fully funded.

Beyond funding, Bailey places heavy emphasis on local control. He argues that local school boards, rather than the state, should determine how children are educated. While Illinois enforces public school standards—such as first-grade math requirements covering addition, subtraction within 20, telling time, and measuring shapes—individual districts retain the authority to choose their own specific curricula.

The Tax Credit Crossroads

A major point of division centers on federal tax policy and school choice. Bailey supports Illinois opting into the new Education Freedom Tax Credit, a program created through federal legislation like the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

Republican for Illinois governor Darren Bailey releases tax returns

Under this mechanism, individuals can receive a tax credit of up to $1,700 and donate it to a scholarship-granting non-profit to offset education expenses. Governor Pritzker has not yet indicated whether the state will opt in before the end-of-year deadline, joining other states weighing the choice similar to New York and Colorado.

Proponents like Bailey argue that failing to opt in leaves federal money on the table, as residents could still claim the credit even if the state stays out, barring Illinois students from benefiting. Critics and education advocacy groups counter that the framework functions as a voucher system, siphoning public education funds toward private institutions that lack open-enrollment mandates and standardized accountability.