SPRINGFIELD — A text from Gov. JB Pritzker to Comptroller Susana Mendoza is exposing a split between the two Illinois Democrats over whether the state should participate in a federal tax incentive program championed by Republicans and signed into law by President Donald Trump.

Pritzker, who has not yet decided whether Illinois will opt into the program, was raising red flags about how the policy could be used — particularly whether it might steer taxpayer-backed benefits to private schools that promote discriminatory views.

Pritzker sent the lengthy message to Mendoza last month after she wrote an opinion piece in the Chicago Tribune urging Illinois to join the federal program. In the text, the governor warned Mendoza that the incentives could support schools that “teach values that are racist or antisemitic or Anti-American.”

“State/federal tax credit dollars would go to support schools that teach children that gay people are evil, that ‘the KKK was fighting against the decline of morality,’ that white supremacy is God’s will — and other crazy notions,” Pritzker texted Mendoza.

The message, obtained by the Tribune through an open-records request, shows a governor taking a cautious, wait-and-see approach to a Trump-backed policy — and a fellow Democrat arguing Illinois shouldn’t pass up potential federal dollars despite broader concerns about the administration.

In an interview with the Tribune after the newspaper obtained the message, Mendoza said she shares Pritzker’s alarm about extremist ideologies but rejects the idea that Illinois should opt out of the program altogether.

“There’s no chance in hell” Illinois should support schools espousing those views, she said. But she added the state should not risk losing funding that could benefit students.

“As the mother of a child in public schools, I believe, and I certainly hope, that our parents and our children, most importantly, can benefit from their tax dollars staying in our schools and helping supplement, you know, the needs of our kids,” she said. “It really should be all about the kids and can we get more money to help them in areas where they need help, like tutoring and equipment, books, fees, you know, participation things.”

In addition to differing on federal policy, the exchange underscores how the two address issues politically. Pritzker has made opposition to Trump-aligned policies central to his political identity as he campaigns for a third term and considers a potential 2028 presidential bid. Mendoza, by contrast, has taken a more pragmatic approach that reflects her reputation as a business-friendly, more moderate Democrat — and comes as she prepares to step down as comptroller next year while considering a run for Chicago mayor.

The program is part of a sweeping tax and spending law Trump signed July 4 that Illinois Democrats, including Pritzker, have broadly criticized for cutting Medicaid, food assistance and other safety-net programs.

Under the measure, which goes into effect in January, taxpayers could receive credits of up to $1,700 for donations to scholarship-granting organizations, which would fund expenses such as tuition, tutoring and supplies for K-12 students in public and private schools within their states, according to a congressional summary of the program.

Mendoza argued in her Tribune op-ed, which appeared online Feb. 18, that “Illinois must affirmatively opt in,” warning that the state could be leaving money on the table.

“Some Democrats may hesitate because this policy emerged from a Republican-controlled Congress and was signed by President Donald Trump. That fear is understandable and justified,” she wrote. “Many Illinoisans have been strong critics of the Trump administration, me included. But especially Illinoisans who strongly oppose the Trump administration must recognize that Illinois benefits from recapturing federal tax incentives. Opting out means our Illinois children lose.”

Pritzker responded the next morning, at 6:34 a.m., emphasizing uncertainty about how the program will be implemented and whether safeguards will be in place.

“Take note that almost half the governors have not opted in, and almost all the governors that have opted in are Republicans. The reason is clear. The feds have not announced the regulations around the use of the funds,” Pritzker wrote on Feb. 19, though since then that tally has grown to more than half of the nation’s governors. “The rest of us are waiting to understand how much of the money can be used for publics and exactly how states can keep the money from supporting schools that teach values that are racist or antisemitic or anti-American.”

He also questioned whether the incentives would disproportionately benefit private schools and raised concerns about teachings he views as improper, singling out “Darren Bailey’s school’s curriculum from Bob Jones University,” a reference to the Full Armor Christian Academy, the school founded by Bailey, of downstate Xenia, the governor’s GOP challenger in November.

“The federal tax code already gives a tax deduction for schools teaching those reprehensible views,” Pritzker wrote in the text. “The (federal tax credit program) would up the ante to make it a tax credit. Trump and the MAGA Congress clearly want the vast majority of the money to bypass public schools altogether. I want to know in what proportion can the (program’s money) be used for public schools and to what extent schools teaching anti-American values can receive any of the money.”

The Bailey campaign said Full Armor Christian Academy does not receive federal or state funding and “still delivers results.” And Bailey spokesperson Jose Durbin called Pritzker’s text message “troubling.”

“Instead of focusing on what’s best for students, he seems more focused on fighting Donald Trump than helping Illinois kids succeed,” Durbin said. “Kids across Illinois deserve access to programs like this.”

Mendoza said in the interview that she thinks Pritzker’s concerns overstate the broader landscape of private education.

“If the Trump administration says that this money is going to be earmarked to send to schools that are teaching crazy ideologies like anti-Semitism or racism, or you figure out what other crazy ideology, I would absolutely speak against it,” she said. “But I also think fearmongering is not the right approach.”

She framed the debate as a fiscal one, arguing Illinois should seek to retain federal tax dollars at a time when funding streams remain uncertain.

“I think that that’s just like the no-brainer idea I don’t believe should be a political issue,” Mendoza said. “Does it make sense for Illinois federal dollars to go outside of Illinois? And I would say that as a donor state, we already send way too much of our hard-earned federal tax money to other, particularly, red states in America. I don’t think we should continue that practice.”

Asked about his text to Mendoza at an unrelated event last week, Pritzker reiterated his position that he still hasn’t seen any regulations for the tax credit program. A spokesperson for the Internal Revenue Service said the agency, along with the U.S. Treasury Department, intends to issue “proposed regulations” this year to provide further guidance on the tax credit program.

“I want to know, are we going to be able to support public school students with the money that’s being given and not just private school students or private organizations? So that’s what I want to know because we got a lot of public school students who could use the support from this federal tax credit also,” Pritzker said. “We have many, many, many more public school students in this country and in this state than we do private school students. So, and then the last part of it is, you know, I want to make sure that the money that goes to support students isn’t going to private school students who are wealthy, and to the wealthiest schools.”

“I want to see what the rules are and how we get to shape it in our state, because I don’t think Oklahoma is the same as Illinois,” Pritzker added. “So I get that some people have opted in without even knowing what the rules are, but in Illinois, we need to know what the rules are before we, you know, simply say ‘yes.’”

According to the IRS, 27 states have so far participated in the program, which begins in 2027. Most of them are states with current Republican governors, except for Colorado and Virginia.

Illinois once had a similar state-level scholarship program to benefit low- to moderate-income families who wanted to send their kids to private schools.

Lawmakers allowed the state’s Invest in Kids tax credit scholarship program, signed in 2017 by former Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner, to expire at the end of 2023 after Democrats had internal divisions over whether it diverted resources from public schools.

Now, similar fault lines are reemerging.

A bill filed last month by state Sen. Adriane Johnson, a Democrat from Buffalo Grove, calls for Illinois to opt into the Trump-championed federal tax credit program “to ensure that children in this State are not prohibited from benefiting from scholarship funds available to children in other states at no cost to State taxpayers,” according to the legislative language. But another measure filed last month by state Sen. Graciela Guzman of Chicago, a progressive Democrat, would bar Illinois from opting into the federal program, citing concerns that it or similar programs would risk “diverting public funds from Illinois public schools, undermining local control, accountability, and equity in education.”

On Friday, a pair of Illinois House Republicans delivered floor speeches supporting the federal program and urging Pritzker to have Illinois opt in.

“If we opt in, Illinois students will benefit. If we do nothing, Illinois taxpayers can still donate but those dollars will go to students in other states,” said state Rep. Brad Halbrook of Shelbyville, who is part of the Illinois Freedom Caucus, a group of downstate GOP lawmakers who are considered the most conservative in the General Assembly. “Why would we allow Illinois families to subsidize an opportunity elsewhere while denying it here at home?”

Republican state Rep. Tom Weber of Lake Villa noted Mendoza’s support, saying, “Good legislation deserves bipartisan support.”

But opposition continues.

While Johnson declined to comment, Guzman said last week, “Our public education system is under attack.” She said she doesn’t want there to be another iteration of Invest In Kids or to see public schools lose out on funding to private schools. She also downplayed the notion that the issue was fragmenting Democrats, when it’s really about “being put in a position where we can’t fund everything.”

“What I would like to see is a conversation, one, about, you know, how our legislature and governor will continue to support public education, how we can ensure that our children all across the board have access to many of the things that they should be having, including bilingual education, their categoricals, many things like that,” Guzman said. “Our public education, those schools, have a mandate and an obligation to serve every child, regardless of where you come from, all of those things. That’s not necessarily what gets to happen at private school.”