SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — An unprecedented plan to let students in foundering public schools transfer to private ones with state help failed Wednesday in the Illinois House.
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — An unprecedented plan to let students in foundering public schools transfer to private ones with state help failed Wednesday in the Illinois House. The measure was "an attempt to help the children in the poorest-performing and most overcrowded, poverty-stricken schools in the city of Chicago," said its sponsor, Rep. Kevin Joyce. As many as 30,000 students would have been eligible for $3,717 vouchers to go to private schools. But like so many other bills in the state Capitol these days, the legislation fell victim to discordant debate over the state budget and failed 48-66. Instead of dallying around the edges, opponents argued, why not hike the income tax to pay for education as Gov. Pat Quinn has recommended? Why take money away from the public schools that are suffering? Why help just Chicago schools? Without an income tax increase, Quinn has said he would have to cut education funding by $1.3 billion in a state whose Constitution requires state taxes to be the primary funding source for schools. "We fail the public schools, we fail the children in those public schools, and then we say, ‘Take $3,000 and go somewhere else,’" complained Rep. William "Will" Burns, D-Chicago. Joyce used a maneuver to keep the bill alive and possibly call it for another vote before the General Assembly’s scheduled adjournment later this week. But passage requires 60 votes, and Joyce counted at least a half-dozen "no" votes he didn’t expect, so he didn’t know how easily he could turn things around. The bill applied to students who attend Chicago public schools that perform in the bottom 10 percent on standardized exams, or are among the 5 percent most overcrowded, and have 70 percent of their students living in poverty. Families of those students could have used the $3,717 voucher toward tuition and fees at a private school of their choice. Parochial school tuition is typically much higher than that amount, but Joyce pointed out that many provide financial aid. It’s unusual that such legislation would come from Democrats such as Joyce and Sen. James Meeks, the sponsor in the Senate which approved the bill 33-20 in March. The last time the Legislature seriously considered vouchers, Republicans controlled the Senate. "We’ve got to do something," Joyce said. "I got here eight years ago, so a whole generation of public school kids have been through these schools. Now we’re starting a new generation. What are we waiting for?" Voucher programs have operated for years in Milwaukee, Cleveland, Florida and Washington, D.C. Advocates said repeated studies of Florida’s vouchers show students who have a choice achieve at a higher academic level. The Illinois Federation of Teachers, a union representing Chicago and other public school instructors and opposes vouchers, said research has shown voucher pupils perform no better and sometimes worse. The Illinois legislation would require students moving to private schools to sit for the Illinois Standards Achievement Test and their progress would be tracked over the years. Copyright 2010 The Associated Press.
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