Sunday, November 22, 2009

Collin Hitt

Southtown Star

Children in Illinois finally could have the champion they have needed. Illinois public schools, particularly inner-city schools, often are failing, which devastates children in working-class and minority communities. Young black men, for example, are less likely to earn a bachelor's degree than drop out of high school and land in jail.

Too many students are forced to attend schools that will not provide a decent education, despite earnest efforts to turn those schools around. Southland pastor and state Sen. James Meeks (D-Chicago) seeks to change that fact. He proposes that families be given the choice of sending their children to the best schools they can find, even if those schools are private.

The reality for decades has been that parents of every income class use whatever means available to choose a good school for their children. Some rent a truck and move out of district. Others are lucky to transfer into a high-quality public school in their area, often a charter school. In the city, hundreds of thousands use their checkbooks and send their children to private school.

We should not scoff at any choice of schools. Changing addresses or creating charter schools are invaluable options, but these choices are not immediately available to thousands of families desperate for safer, better schools. Private schools statewide can provide that setting, and they have thousands of seats available right now.

Meeks is pursuing a voucher program that would allow thousands of impoverished families a choice of schools. This new power for parents promises that many children can enroll in schools that are better able to meet their needs. It promises that surrounding public schools will improve, and it promises that everyone in Illinois, as taxpayers, will benefit.

Several cities, including Washington and Milwaukee, have created voucher programs. Ten studies have shown how well students perform when they are given vouchers. Six of those studies have found significant improvement for students, and three have found improvements for important categories of students, particularly black students.

None of the studies showed any group of students had done worse in their new schools.

Critics of school choice argue that families unable to use vouchers will be hurt because, supposedly, struggling public schools somehow will worsen. Research finds otherwise: The competition for students (and tax dollars that back them) forces public schools to improve. The Friedman Foundation has compiled "all available empirical studies on how vouchers affect academic achievement in public schools." Ninety-four percent of the studies show that competition, made possible by giving parents a choice of schools, has resulted in better performance at those public schools. Remember the saying: "A rising tide lifts all boats."

Allowing parents to use vouchers benefits taxpayers. At a yearly average of $6,000, private school tuition in Illinois is less than half the average expense of educating public school students in urban districts such as Chicago. Assuming a low-income family can receive a $6,000 voucher, as envisioned by Meeks, that family would leave $6,000 for a school district that otherwise would have borne the full cost of educating their child. And this represents only part of the savings generated by the program.

Northeastern University recently released a study with two shocking statistics: Each high school dropout costs taxpayers $290,000 over his or her lifetime, and nearly one of four young black male dropouts is in prison.

Nearly half of all minority students in Illinois drop out of high school. Giving them, and parents, a choice of schools will improve this grim statistic, meaning Illinois will need fewer jails (albeit more college dorms).

Meeks' support for school choice is new. It has come at a time when everyone in Illinois politics and public policy has been forced to rethink their beliefs. This is the result of tragedy, epitomized recently by the beating death of Chicago honor student Derrion Albert.

Meeks has touted different education reform ideas over the years, some better than others. He now supports vouchers, and in these troubling times, that could make this his finest hour.

COLLIN HITT IS DIRECTOR OF EDUCATION POLICY AT THE ILLINOIS POLICY INSTITUTE. CONTACT HIM AT COLLIN@ILLINOISPOLICY.ORG.