Five Midwest states have enacted or expanded school choice programs since the Invest in Kids Act was enacted in 2017. Now Illinois’ scholarships are set to expire while other programs thrive.
Chicago Public Schools students return to class Aug. 21. Take a look at the state of district proficiency, building utilization, enrollment, student-teacher ratios, absenteeism and finances.
Illinois public school students are at a severe disadvantage. Educational unions here can strike, keeping kids out of school, but that’s not the case in other big cities or neighboring states.
“If it weren’t for the scholarship, he probably would have been home taught. Public school was just not an option for him.”
Contracts at 35 Chicago charter schools represented by the Chicago Teachers Union are up for negotiations this year. CTU, with the help of Gov. J.B. Pritzker and House Bill 1120, is positioning itself to grow its power by diminishing charter schools as an alternative for parents and students.
Educators and other public school employees in Illinois can opt out of union membership in August and stop paying dues.
Iowa, Missouri, Ohio and Tennessee are all having back-to-school sales tax holidays. Not Illinois, where state leaders saw the need during the 2022 election.
Since 2010, teachers unions have funneled nearly $20 million to current lawmakers in the Illinois General Assembly, with the Chicago Teachers Union alone spending over $1.25 million.
Chicago Public Schools has a school utilization problem. Over 34% are less than half full, 57% are underutilized, and 5% are overcrowded. Just 35% are at ideal capacity. The Chicago Teachers Union is preventing solutions.
Just 26% of IFT’s spending in 2022 was on representing teachers. IFT’s questionable spending could be why nearly 16,500 Illinois public school employees have chosen to distance themselves from the union.
Less than 8% of NEA and IEA’s spending in 2022 was on representing teachers, according to the unions’ federal reports. That could be why nearly 203,000 public school employees – including more than 6,000 in Illinois – have left NEA since 2017.
Illinois voters polled were 3 to 1 in support of the state’s only school choice program, Invest in Kids. But unless lawmakers act, the program ends this year.
“If Invest in Kids sunsets, we would probably move out of state. The scholarship is the only thing that has kept us here for the last six years.”
Mayoral appointments to the city’s school board tell the public a lot about that mayor’s philosophy. That’s why it’s so important to pay attention to who Mayor Brandon Johnson is appointing. It’s also important to understand what options should be on the table when it comes to fixing the failing Chicago Public Schools system.