The EdChoice blog recently delivered some good news, specifically that the number of students using private choice programs increased by 25% last year. In fact, if you cobble together some previous years' data from the EdChoice ABCs of School Choice reports, the trend looks like:

Overall, a doubling of private choice participation since Arizona and West Virginia adopted universal policies in 2022 is looking like a good start. It is worth keeping in mind that surveys show that parents prefer private schools at approximately four times the rate that they enroll in them, and there are many miles to go on that front. The new program in Texas and the federal tax credit will provide additional sources of growth in the years ahead.

Meanwhile, over at Charter Folk, the not-so-good news. Jed Wallace has a striking post on the bifurcation of American education. Disadvantaged students have suffered the lion’s share of the decline in achievement since the pandemic struck.

This is your author’s observation rather than Wallace’s, but authorities adopting policies that teens can readily interpret as “attending school is not terribly important” have extremely negative consequences on absenteeism. Moreover, as best your humble author can tell, the “plan” for the public schools to do anything about it involves aging/dropping the academically damaged students out of the system.

In any case, Wallace puts his hammer on the head of an important nail regarding different reactions across red and blue states:

“It comes down to a topic I have written about several times here, which is whether teacher unions think they have overplayed their hands since the pandemic.

“My answer has been that in red states the answer is undoubtedly yes. Teacher union recalcitrance since the pandemic has sparked the Republican party to embrace private school choice, and that is resulting in seismic change happening in those states.

“In blue contexts, though, I have said that it’s a very different story. Thus far, Dems’ calculation has been that their hold on power is so unquestioned in blue states that they don’t really need to pivot on issues. They’ll be able to keep winning without making any adjustment at all.”

Ohio State University political scientist Vladimir Kogan, in his book “No Adult Left Behind,” argues: “We need a public school system that serves students, but we have created one that is governed at the behest of adults. We should not be surprised when it puts the interests of those adults first.”

Wallace is, correctly, I fear, noting that the politics of blue states lend themselves to more of the same on K-12. Wallace notes that this means more of this in Illinois:

If spending $93,787 per student at a high school with 0% proficiency in reading to go along with 0% proficiency in math is not your personal cup of tea, you might want to consider moving out of Illinois. It does not seem likely that you could find such a thing in any of the nearby states, two of which offer their citizens universal access to private choice programs:

Federalism allows people of divergent views to effectuate different policy goals, a healthy design feature of the American Constitution. If your state uses their monopoly on force to require you to pay for the schools like those listed above, opting out sounds like a splendid idea. Finding yourself forced to pay for those schools is far more than anyone should tolerate. Finding oneself forced to pay for them and being required to send your children to them is far, far worse. Illinois policymakers would never inflict this on their own children but seem entirely content to do so on thousands of their fellow citizens.

Depeche Mode once sang about “the grabbing hands grab all they can” but the same song noted “everything counts in large amounts.” For example, within the lifetimes of many reading this post, Illinois will have gone from having twice as many seats in Congress as Florida, to half as many (see below).

Everything counts in large amounts, indeed. The grabbing hands will be grabbing all they can, but your interests, dear reader, lie in putting yourself beyond their reach.

 

Editor’s note: This commentary from Keri D. Ingraham, a fellow at Discovery Institute, director of the American Center for Transforming Education, and a visiting fellow at the Independent Women’s Forum, appeared earlier today on washingtonexaminer.com.

On the heels of a historic year of school choice advancement, including legislation that enacted universal or near-universal school choice programs in seven states, Illinois is poised to go in the opposite direction, delivering a blow to low-income families.

Specifically, the Democratic-controlled legislature in Illinois is positioned to let the Invest in Kids $100 million tax-credit scholarship program, enacted in 2017, sunset at the end of this calendar year. The action will nix a school choice program currently providing educational options to 9,000 low-income students.

As a tax-credit scholarship, the school choice program is not directly funded with taxpayer dollars but is privately funded by people and businesses who contribute through a qualified scholarship-granting organization.

Regardless, state lawmakers intentionally opted not to extend the program during the spring legislative session by failing to include it in the state’s budget implementation bill. Several other bills introduced during the session that would have extended the program also failed.

According to Myles Mendoza, founder and former President of Empower Illinois, the organization that led the inception of the tax credit scholarship policy, “despite daily pleas throughout the legislative session to extend the school choice program from parents, grandparents, foster parents, and guardians of children receiving the tax credit scholarship, Democratic House Speaker Chris Welch didn’t seem to even notice.”

The Democrat lawmakers’ loyalties lay with the public school teachers unions, who are stark opponents of school choice because having more children enrolled in public schools increases teacher staffing levels, equating to more members’ dues into union coffers, and who spend millions of dollars fueling Democratic political campaigns every year.

It’s a vicious funding cycle, with Democrat politicians and teachers union leaders pledging unwavering allegiance to each other in this quid pro quo relationship. Clearly, the importance of providing low-income students an opportunity to receive a better education pales in comparison.

But there was another reason the teachers unions pressured Illinois’ Democratic lawmakers to ensure the school choice program ends: The program shed a glaring light on the magnitude of parents seeking to free their children from the failing union-controlled Illinois public schools.

According to test data released by the Illinois State Board of Education, a startling 70% of Illinois public school students fail to read at grade level, and 75% fail to meet proficiency in math.

To continue reading, click here.

Editor’s note: This article appeared Wednesday on thecentersquare.com.

Parents of students from across the state involved with the state's Invest In Kids school choice pilot program are lobbying Illinois lawmakers to make it permanent.

The program allows donors to get a 75% income tax credit toward donations to fund school choice scholarships for qualified families throughout the state. Scholarship Granting Organizations are approved to administer the program, which is set to sunset Jan. 1, 2024. As lawmakers return, parents are looking for an extension.

Eric Ruiz of Joliet, a parent with students attending a private school involved in the program, explained his goal of coming to Springfield.

"We are hoping to get rid of the sunset date and make this a permanent thing," Ruiz said. "We do not know what the future holds, so I would like my kids to remain there."

Trip Rodgers, superintendent for Lutheran Schools in central Illinois, said that students who usually would not get a chance at private school can with the program.

"Over the last couple of years, we have seen an increase in the number of students who can attend our school," Rodgers said. "Many of these students in the past would not have been able to do it financially."

Anthony Holter, president of the scholarship granting organization Empower Illinois, said 100% of the scholarships are based on need, with 70% of recipients having the most financial need.

To continue reading, click here.