ROCKFORD — Dozens of families at schools across Rockford were unable to submit applications to the state's new private school scholarship program because the website used to register families was not working.
The online-only application process on the Empower Illinois website was supposed to launch at noon Wednesday. It never did.
Parents at Christian Life, Rockford Lutheran, Boylan Catholic High School and Galapagos Rockford Charter School waited around for hours as Empower Illinois, the nonprofit formed to help register families and distribute scholarship dollars across the state, posted periodic updates to its Facebook's page alluding to technical issues.
They went home after multiple failed attempts to apply for more than $5.8 million in scholarship funds made available for the first time this year through the Invest in Kids Act. Statewide, the new school choice program has collected more than $45 million in donations.
"We knew the demand for quality educational options was strong, but no one estimated the overwhelming statewide demand we saw today," Myles Mendoza, executive director of Empower Illinois said in a statement released Wednesday afternoon. "More than 24,000 families visited the application site within the first few minutes of its availability causing a technology failure. Our scholarship application has been temporarily suspended until we resolve the issue."
Scholarships to K-12 private schools will be awarded to Illinois students this summer for use this fall. Money will be awarded by region. Winnebago, Boone and Stephenson counties are in Region 2. According to the act, scholarships will be awarded on a first-come, first-serve basis to families in financial need. Priority also will be given to families who live in what are considered "focus" school districts, such as Rockford, Belvidere and Freeport.
According to Empower Illinois, no applications were made Wednesday.
"Unfortunately, we do not yet have an update on when the student application will relaunch," Empower Illinois posted on its Facebook page Wednesday night. "We apologize for the inconvenience this has caused students and families."
Michael Lane of Galapagos Rockford Charter School said he's frustrated for the parents who took time off work to apply. About a dozen of them were at his two schools in Rockford using the schools' computers to access the Empower Illinois website.
"Some parents spent three or four hours trying to get this done, and now they have to do it again," Lane said. "I'm surprised they weren't prepared for this kind of response. Anytime you say something like this is first-come, first-serve, you're going to get thousands of people."
After hours of trying to submit applications and not getting through, Don Gillingham, executive director at Rockford Lutheran School, ordered pizza.
"I felt bad for the families so we fed them," he said. The school had about 20 families in a computer lab most of the afternoon trying to submit an application.
Another 15 parents were at Boylan.
"Hopefully, they can come back with a good plan," Boylan President Amy Ott said of Empower. "There's still time. ... I think it's a real testament to the overwhelming need and how many people are looking for that choice."
At Christian Life Schools, more than 30 parents stared at error messages on computer screens Wednesday noon.
"I'm disappointed," said Michael Hoekstra, middle and high school principal. "We had a great turnout. We did a lot to spread the word. ... It's exciting that people are so interested in this. It's discouraging what happened."
Corina Curry: 815-987-1371; ccurry@rrstar.com; @corinacurry