In Midst of Chicago Strike, Focus Should be on Students, Choice

As the Chicago Teachers Union strike nears the conclusion of a second day, more than 400,000 students are left out of classrooms and, as a result, failing to get the education that is so fundamental to their growth.  

But even before the strike, there were far too many children trapped in failing schools that was providing them with a substandard education.

As negotiations between the CTU and city officials continue, lawmakers in Illinois and around the country would do well to take this time to think about our educational priorities. And while they sadly seem to have become collateral damage in a fight between adults, foremost among those priorities should be our children. 

And among the most important answers to that question is school choice.

If parents in Chicago—and everywhere else—had real options as to where to send their kids to school, they would have the opportunity to choose the education they feel is best for their children and, as a result, achievement, graduation rates, and college enrollment would all increase. With all options on the table, including private school choice, children, not special interests or money, would be the centerpiece of this discussion.

And Illinois has in the past seriously considered these options. Back in 2010, the Illinois Senate passed legislation that would have created a statewide voucher program, And leaders in Chicago and throughout the state continue to support vouchers. Among them:

• Chicago Public Schools Superintendent Jean-Claude Brizard, who believes “it’s a matter of making sure the dollars follow children. If 500 traditional [Chicago Public School Students] would go to the parochial schools…the proportional share (of dollars) should to the school actually educating those children.”
• Chicago City Clerk Susana Mendoza, who for voted in favor of the voucher bill while serving in the State House in 2010
• State Senator James Meeks (D), who sponsored the voucher legislation in 2010
• The Chicago Tribune, which has printed dozens of editorials in support of bringing private school choice to the Windy City, including one as recently as two days ago

Editorial Boards Endorse Education Reform in the Form of School Choice

As journalists report on education reform initiatives across the country—the political battles, implementation of new programs, and results—the other side of newspapers are sounding strong support for school choice programs.  In both left-leaning and right-leaning papers, editorial boards are endorsing these programs.

Today, The Chicago Tribune published an editorial praising Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal’s education reform package recently signed into law, which expanded the Student Scholarships for Educational Excellence Program statewide. 

In “Momentum for School Choice,” the Tribune Editorial Board writes:

The Bayou State is part of a "Top this!" competition among many states to open public schools to competition. Indiana has set up an expansive voucher program that covers students in families that have incomes below $61,000 a year. Wisconsin has expanded school choice programs in Milwaukee and Racine. Ohio will give tuition vouchers to as many as 60,000 students by 2013.

And Illinois? Left in the dust.

A bill that would have offered private school tuition support to as many as 30,000 Chicago kids came close to passing a couple of years ago. The latest version is languishing in the Senate assignments committee.

And that’s not the first time the Tribune Editorial Board advocated vouchers.  In July 2011, the editorial board wrote:

Major school reforms are unspooling in as many as a dozen states, including Illinois. These laws bring the promise of a transformation just as dramatic as — forgive us — anything that Decepticons could manage. (Ask your kids.)

It starts with giving parents more options about where their children can go to school.

The American Federation for Children, a Washington D.C.-based school choice advocacy group, dubs 2011 "The year of school choice."

But Chicago isn't the only place where newspapers are taking notice of the importance of voucher programs.