School choice would benefit Illinois

Empowering parents to choose the best school for their children — whether public or private, regardless of ZIP code — isn’t just the right thing to do. With Illinois struggling to overcome its budget deficit, school choice makes good fiscal sense.

With resources tight, the smart state lawmakers and governors are proposing some ambitious reforms. These include establishing new teacher evaluation rules and ending the practice of “last hired, first fired” that punishes younger teachers and protects timeservers; removing expensive class-size mandates; and renegotiating “Cadillac” pension plans.

Excellent ideas all. But states such as Florida, Indiana, New Jersey, Ohio and Pennsylvania are also considering legislation to establish or expand opportunity scholarship programs currently offering low-income parents or parents with disabled children the means to send their children to the school of their choice instead of one determined by their residence.

Opponents argue tax credit scholarship programs are expensive, deprive traditional public schools of resources, and use taxpayer dollars to enrich private or even religious enterprises. Despite these claims, the programs have expanded slowly but steadily, successfully raising academic achievement where they’ve been tried in 14 states and the District of Columbia. In addition, study after study shows school choice saves money. The Foundation for Educational Choice estimated the 12 voucher and tuition tax credit programs operating before the 2006-07 school year produced a 15-year cost savings of $444 million.

Opponents of school choice often argue public education is somehow different and shouldn’t be subject to “the whims and caprices of the market.” But the truth is the current system has failed to do its job of creating knowledgeable, self-governing citizens. It’s time to allow choice.

Ben Boychuk

The Heartland Institute

Chicago