Innovation can help Chicago Public Schools improve academic proficiency, but it requires breaking up the centralized power built by the Chicago Teachers Union and Chicago Public Schools. Local control can improve student outcomes.

Spring test data shows low-income and minority students in Chicago Public Schools continue to record low proficiency rates. The Chicago Teachers Union wants to kill a school choice program that could help those students.

Chicago Public Schools’ decision to significantly shorten the number of years charter schools are allowed to operate before their charters are up for renewal is the latest Chicago Teachers Union effort to destroy public school choice.

But nearly 3,000 low-income students enrolled in Chicago’s parochial schools will lose their scholarships if the Invest in Kids Act is not extended by state lawmakers this fall.

Chicago Public Schools reported its first uptick in enrollment after 11 years of decline. Thousands of new English learners contributed to the rise. Low-income and Black student enrollment declined.

Few Chicago third-grade students can read at grade level. Even fewer low income and minority students are at grade level in reading. Research shows this is a warning sign for Chicago students’ academic success and subsequent earning potential.

Contradictory metrics statewide point to poor accountability and grade promotion standards in Illinois. Low-income parents seeking alternatives are hamstrung as lawmakers weigh ending Illinois’ only school choice program.

Chicago Public Schools has received about $1.93 billion in additional state and local funding since the 2018-19 school year, when the Invest in Kids scholarship tax-credit program awarded its first scholarships to low-income students to attend the schools of their choice.