KNOW YOUR STATE

Illinois

State Sovereignty, National Union

Illinois has a State Board of Education and a State Superintendent. The State Board consists of 9 members appointed to 4-year terms.

How Illinois Scores on School Choice

Every state sets its own school choice rules, and Illinois is no exception. The NWEF School Choice Index scores Illinois on 17 measures, from open enrollment to education savings accounts, then ranks it against all 50 states. Open any category below to see where Illinois earns points and where it falls short.

Illinois

Rank #38 of 50

Lagging

Illinois has room to grow, especially on charter school access and private-school options like ESAs and vouchers.

Scored from state law · as of August 2026

You Can Influence Your State's School Choice Score

Your state lawmakers wrote the rules behind this score. Most of them have never seen how Illinois compares to other states.

Submit the form below and we'll send you two ways to find your own lawmakers, plus a short message you can copy, personalize, and send. It takes a couple of minutes.

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Please check your inbox for a list of resources of how you can influence your state's School Choice index.

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