This opinion piece was originally published in the Chicago Tribune on Jan. 24, 2024.
By: Former Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner, ExcelinEd in Action Board Member
Illinois successfully reformed public school funding, provided more school choice to families and leveled the playing field for students all within the last decade. Things that were once considered impossible in the Land of Lincoln passed with bipartisan support.
This success was accomplished because policymakers could focus more on the needs of students and families and less on those of special interest groups and grown-ups who financially benefit from preserving the status quo.
Sadly, much of that progress is now being reversed by groups such as the Chicago Teachers Union that are actively fighting against families and the choices they desire.
Last November, union allies succeeded in having eliminated the state’s popular Invest in Kids Act, a bipartisan effort passed in 2017 that has provided thousands of low-income and working-class kids with scholarships to private schools at a minimal cost to the state budget. These families will now spend all spring figuring out how to afford to keep their children in the schools they’ve chosen. And for those families who won’t be able to do this, they’ll have to give their child news that no parent wants to deliver.
Unions also have spent years inflicting their wrath on public school choice, promoting caps on charter schools, limiting their pathways to authorization and pushing for charter unionization requirements that would destroy teacher freedom and school autonomy.
Now the CTU and its allies want to bring changes to high-performing public school options. Union leaders have singled out Chicago’s selective-enrollment high schools, which serve a diverse student population and manage each year to prove that achievement gaps can be closed when schools focus on delivering a high standard of education to every student. The data clearly shows that these schools are working for students of color while our traditional public schools are delivering lackluster results.
RELATED: From Policy to Action: How 8 States Expanded School Choice to All K-12 Families in 2023
