8/9/2019 Newspapers Across the State Support School Choice

1/11

It comes down to a simple question:

What if it were your kid?

Chicago Sun-Times, May 2, 201

A better education at

an equal or lower cost?

How could any lawmaker be

against that?

-Belleville News-Democrat,

April 24, 2010

Public schools would not be hurtnancially and the more options for

families who dont get the education

they are paying for, the better.

-Rockford Register Star, April 22, 2010

The state as a whole

would benet fromimproving the education

system in Chicago.

Having a good education

system means a lot in

terms of attracting

businesses or keeping

businesses here.

-Bloomington Pantagraph,

April 25, 2010

School Voucher Pilot

Program Deserves

Support.

-State Journal-Register,

April 6, 2010

For more information on this important issue, visit IllinoisPolicy.org.

These vouchers would

be a win-win-win for

students, taxpayers and

public education.

-Chicago Tribune,

April 21, 2010

Newspapers Across the

State Support SB2494.The proposed school voucher program has received endorsements from major newspapers across

Illinois. Editorial boards in Belleville, Springeld, Bloomington, Rockford and Chicago have all urged the

General Assembly to pass SB2494.

8/9/2019 Newspapers Across the State Support School Choice

2/11

8/9/2019 Newspapers Across the State Support School Choice

3/11

April 6, 2010

State Sen. James Meeks has never been timid or conven-

tional in tackling his signature issue improving public

education in Illinois.

On the rst day of the 2008-09 school year, Meeks pro-

tested funding inequity at Illinois public schools by busing

1,000 students from Chicago public schools to the wealth-

ier New Trier school district in suburban Northeld. The

students were not successful in their attempt to enroll in

New Trier schools, but Meeks effort brought ample atten-

tion to a state funding system that links a school districts

budget to the property values in its community.

I do not believe that a childs education should be based

on where they live, Meeks said at the time. We undered-

ucated these kids parents, we undereducated their grand-

parents and now were in the process of undereducating

them.

Effective as that protest was in bringing attention to the

issue, it did not result in a more equitable system for fund-ing school districts.

But a bill Meeks shepherded through the Illinois Sen-

ate two weeks ago could have an immediate impact for

thousands of students in some of Chicagos most severely

under-performing public schools. By a vote of 33-20,

the Senate approved a plan to give private school tuition

vouchers to 22,000 elementary school students at the low-

est rated schools in the Chicago public school system.

The pilot program was a scaled-down version of Meeks

original plan, which had called for a voucher option for

students at the lowest performing public high schools as

well.

To be sure, this is a radical approach, and debate over the

voucher concepts overall effectiveness rages among edu-

cators and advocates for education reform. But we agree

with Meeks on this one when he says that too many

students are being left behind as the General Assembly

endlessly ponders more traditional routes to reform. We

think the House should approve Meeks bill when it re-

turns next week from its spring recess.

Even if we pass a tax increase, that money cant go

to schools right away. ... So what do parents ... who are

trapped in failing school districts do while the General

Assembly is trying to solve the education funding? says

Meeks. I say we use this bill to plug that gap. Lets give

those parents some relief, at least in the worst schools.

Eligible students would receive vouchers to cover tuition

at a private school at which they are accepted. Average pri-

vate elementary school tuition in Chicago is about $3,200,

though a voucher could cover tuition up to about $6,100.

It wont cost the state more because the maximum $6,100

is what the state would be paying anyway.

Are there kinks to be worked out? Sure. Thats what pilot

programs are for. One of the biggest questions concernshow a voucher program would affect the already strug-

gling schools. Meeks believes they would benet from

smaller class sizes and also because the schools would

get to keep roughly $7,500 in non-state funding for each

student in the voucher program.

What impresses us most about Meeks proposal is its im-

mediacy. The General Assembly has been kicking around

various plans to correct school funding disparity for two

decades. If signed into law, this could get thousands of

kids in Chicago into better schools next school year.

If it proves successful there, perhaps it can be extended to

other districts in Illinois that face similar struggles.

Like Meeks and thousands of parents across the state,

were tired of waiting for the state to x one of its greatest

inequities.

Our Opinion: School Voucher Pilot Program Deserves Support

8/9/2019 Newspapers Across the State Support School Choice

4/11

8/9/2019 Newspapers Across the State Support School Choice

5/11

8/9/2019 Newspapers Across the State Support School Choice

6/11

8/9/2019 Newspapers Across the State Support School Choice

7/11

April 22, 2010

State lawmakers should approve a measure creating avoucher program for students in low-performing Chicago

elementary schools.

We advocate the legislation, which has passed the Senate

and is pending in the House, at risk of appearing pre-

sumptuous. Why is it our place to say whats appropriate

for another city?

Because as goes Chicago, so goes the rest of the state. If

Chicago gets vouchers, more educational options for cities

like Rockford could be as little as three years down the

road.

Thats the assessment of Collin Hitt, director of education

policy for the Illinois Policy Institute. Hitt visited the Edi-

torial Board earlier this week and described his organiza-

tions support of vouchers. The institute is a nonpartisan,

nonprot group dedicated to free enterprise and school

choice.

A decade ago, Hitt would not have found a friendly audi-

ence in the Editorial Board. In a 1998 editorial, the board

said, The Rockford Register Star opposes vouchersbecause they take tax dollars from public schools.

Today, this newspaper believes public schools would not

be hurt nancially and the more options for families who

dont get the education they are paying for, the better.

The Chicago program would apply only to the students

who attend the lowest-performing public schools. They

would get a voucher to attend a private school if they

wish.

A community stands to save money on voucher programs

because the voucher typically covers only the foundation

or state-established base for per-pupil spending. In

places like Chicago, it costs many times the foundation

level to educate children in the public schools.

The Obama administration backs school reforms such

as charters and merit pay for teachers, but it has not put

its muscle behind vouchers. Although U.S. Secretary of

Education Arne Duncan was CEO of the Chicago Public

Schools, he doesnt believe government-supported vouch-ers are a direction education should go.

Duncan told a gathering of principals last July that vouch-

ers pull out 1 to 2 percent of children but leave the other

99 percent to drown, a March 3 story in Education Week

said. As a federal government, Duncan said, we have to

be more ambitious than that.

The policy institutes Hitt nds Duncans argument

insulting to parents no matter how many who are

desperate to nd alternatives to educate their children. He

asks: Shouldnt we pursue everything proven to work? We

should.

Besides, Education Secretary Duncan seemed to contra-

dict himself on National Public Radios Talk of the Na-

tion program Monday. Referring to an unrelated Obama

initiative to improve education, he told listeners, We have

to challenge the status quo to get dramatically better.

Vouchers are part of that challenge. And they work:

Eighteen of 19 studies that assessed the effect of school

vouchers demonstrated improvement.

Even strong advocates of school vouchers, though, are

concerned about a lack of transparency that has plagued

the programs. The Thomas B. Fordham Institute, a Wash-

ington think tank, has long advocated for private school

vouchers, according to an April 1 story in Education

Week. But Michael J. Petrilli of the institute urged propo-

nents to come to terms with the idea of accountability

for participating schools.

In other words, if taxpayers foot the bill, private schools

receiving vouchers should be required to release the same

information as public schools. We are encouraged about

the seemingly unequivocable language in Senate Bill 2494:

Requires pupils receiving vouchers to be assessed in the

same manner as Illinois public school students. Good.

Even if communities like Rockford dont get instant op-

tions from this legislation, they should support it anyway,

Hitt said. The entire state already pays for the persistent

failure in Chicagos lowest-performing schools. Precisely.

Our View: More school options needed; vouchers a good tool to have

8/9/2019 Newspapers Across the State Support School Choice

8/11

April 24, 2010

Good news for people who believe competition is the way

to improve public education: Illinois may soon start using

school vouchers.

A bill, SB 2494, has already passed the Senate and could

be voted on by the House as early as next week.

This bipartisan effort deserves the support of our metro-

east representatives. Sen. James Meeks, D-Chicago, has

risked the teachers unions wrath to take up this cause. He

used to support the teachers unions and public education,

but got fed up waiting for them to stop failing the

children.

This would be a pilot program and involve the 22,000

students who attend the worst 10 percent of Chicagos

public elementary schools. The majority of those schools

have been failing students for more than nine years. If the

program is successful, the hope is that vouchers would be

expanded to failing schools throughout the state, including

the metro-east.

Parents would get a voucher to send their children to the

public or private school of their choice. Supporters say

this wont cost the state -- the vouchers would be paid

with money that otherwise would have gone to the failing

schools -- and might even save money. Many parochial

schools tuition is lower than the states minimum funding

level.

A better education at an equal or lower cost? How could

any lawmaker be against that?

Time to try school vouchers

8/9/2019 Newspapers Across the State Support School Choice

9/11

April 25, 2010

A pilot program to provide vouchers to elementary

students in the worst-performing Chicago schools isworth trying.

Similar programs in other states have shown positive

results and not much else seems to be working in

Illinois.

The program, approved by the Senate on a bipartisan vote

and awaiting action in the House, would involve studentsattending the bottom 10 percent of schools that wouldbe about 22,000 students in 48 schools.

Parents would receive a voucher for the price of tuitionor the state foundation level for education funding currently $6,119 whichever is less. This is money that

would otherwise go to the Chicago Public Schools system.

The average tuition at private and parochial elementaryschools in Chicago is well under that amount, so the

program would not cost the state additional money andwould likely save money.

But saving money isnt the goal; improving childrens

education is.

Although the program would only apply to Chicagoschools, the state as a whole would benet from

improving the education system in Chicago. Having a

good education system means a lot in terms of attractingbusinesses or keeping businesses here.

If a better elementary education also leads to better resultswhen students move into high school, the state as a whole

will benet from more students getting their diplomas andmoving into jobs or on to college rather than into thewelfare or prison systems.

But were getting ahead of ourselves.

That kind of cause-and-effect impact might be difcultto measure. But, students participating in this programwill have to take the same standardized tests as theircounterparts who remain in public schools, so the impacton these individuals will be quantiable.

Research has shown that such voucher programs not onlybenet the students who transfer to private schools butalso those who stay in the public schools. The loss of

money from students who transfer apparently motivatesschool ofcials and/or teachers to improve in ways no

other programs seem to have succeeded.

Of course, Chicago is not the only place with schoolsthat are failing our children. But it does have the largestconcentration as well as a sufcient number of existing

private/parochial schools with room to take in thesepublic schoolchildren. Therefore, it is the most logicalplace to test the waters.

Just because we cant help everyone, doesnt mean weshouldnt try to help some who are trapped in the worstschools.

The House should approve Senate Bill 2494.

Try vouchers for students in Chicago schools

8/9/2019 Newspapers Across the State Support School Choice

10/11

May 2, 2010

It comes down to a simple question: What if it were your

kid? This page has long opposed school vouchers, instead

opting to ght hard for better Chicago public schools. But

today, we break with that position by offering cautious

support for a tightly focused voucher bill before the

Illinois House.

A vote is expected this week. The bill has passed in the

Senate.

Were backing this bill because it could give some kids a

way out without -- and this is crucial -- hurting the kids

who are left behind.

Under the bill, vouchers for private or parochial schools

would be available only in about 70 elementary schools,

for up to 30,000 kids who need them most -- students in

Chicagos 48 lowest-performing schools and in as many as

20 of the most overcrowded schools that serve poor kids.

These kids deserve a shot at a better education. A voucher

is one possibility, though no guarantee.

The research on vouchers is inconclusive; some kids

do better but many see no change. A study released last

month on Milwaukees large voucher program found

that voucher kids did no better than their public school

classmates.

No one can point to vouchers as the answer. But for an

individual family, a voucher could be an answer.

Were backing the bill for that reason and, most

importantly, because we dont see a limited voucher

program hurting CPS nances, its existing schools or its

efforts to improve. The $3,800 proposed voucher grant,

which would largely come from the state, is less than what

CPS spends per pupil, leaving CPS with extra cash but no

student to educate.

CPS is working to turn around some of its weakest

schools, and we dont see a voucher program undermining

that effort. But only a fraction of the worst schools are

getting real help. Money and support for what they need --

smaller class sizes, social and emotional support for kids,

strong leaders and teachers -- is not on the horizon.

The teachers unions oppose the bill, saying they would

consider vouchers only if the state and CPS had properly

funded and supported the schools all along. Sadly, we

dont see a day any time soon when those responsibilities

will be met. In the meantime, thousands more kids will

enroll in these struggling schools.

This bill does need one major x. It originally waspromoted as a pilot program subject to reauthorization

after the preliminary results were in. That sensible

safeguard has been dropped and must be revived.

The bill should include an expiration date, perhaps ve

years from now, so legislators can evaluate the voucher

programs impact.

If kids arent ourishing in private schools, and if the

voucher program ends up hurting the kids left behind, it

should be scrapped.

Only a sunset clause will truly force legislators to prove

this is a worthwhile experiment.

Limited Voucher Plan Could Help Some Kids

8/9/2019 Newspapers Across the State Support School Choice

11/11