School choice gives students a chance
Five years ago, the Illinois General Assembly nearly approved a bipartisan school voucher program for Chicago Public Schools. Passed in the Senate, the bill was defeated in the House 66-48.
How shameful no voucher proposal has gained meaningful traction in the state legislature since the 2010 defeat of a bill sponsored by Sen. James Meeks and Rep. Kevin Joyce, both now retired from the legislature. Children in chronically underperforming and overcrowded CPS would have been given a chance for a better future.
Failing schools aren't only an anomaly of Chicago. Half of Illinois' lowest performing schools are found outside Chicago's borders in Aurora, East St. Louis, Rockford, Springfield, and Waukegan, yet teacher unions continue to fight tooth and nail against offering meaningful school reform.
School Choice alternatives like charter schools, vouchers, Education Savings Accounts, home schooling and private schools allow parents and students to decide which school choice option best suits them. s it fair that good education is available for the lucky few, while the unlucky remainder get stuck in America's underperforming schools?
Because of the work of Ted Dabrowski, vice president of policy at the Illinois Policy Institute, a voucher system has been introduced to the city of Waukegan as an alternative to its failed school system. Although the voucher initiative is still in its infancy, a recent change in the Waukegan school board could move the project along.
Waukegan's voucher project does not involve fighting for change at the legislative level, but instead at the grass-roots level.
It's past time for lawmakers to stop putting union campaign donations above the needs of Illinois children.
Nancy J. Thorner
Lake Bluff