Consider voucher system seriously

Last month marked our country's first school choice week, as adults and kids nationwide rallied in support of school choice programs. School vouchers have been offered as a solution to improve the current state of public education and need to be contemplated.

According to one article published last year, Illinois schools owe $1 billion that the state is unable to pay. This is an impressive amount of money and the fact that it is money that the state doesn't have is sobering. Vouchers not only allow parents choice in where their children attend school, they also drastically cut spending, in some cases from $12,500 per student per year to $6,400.

I am aware that there are those who are strongly opposed to such systems. The Anti-Defamation League finds vouchers unconstitutional because public funds could be allocated to schools that promote religious ideals, thus blurring the lines of church and state. Additionally, The National Education Association claims that voucher systems would threaten public schools that are already struggling to meet performance levels.

These are very real concerns, and I think they are addressable. In Zellman v. Simmons-Harris, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of school voucher systems on the basis that no one was forced to attend a religious school. Broadly speaking, competition increases the quality of choice. I believe that this principle applies to schools as well. Vouchers would also decrease class sizes, allowing teachers more individualized attention toward each student in the class, even in public schools.

I think we can all agree that education is important, both to the individual and to the community as a whole. Vouchers promise a better education for Illinois' students, and need to be implemented. This is an important issue, because better education leads to better lives.

Elizabeth Bodett

Wheaton