By: Ted Dabrowski and John Klingner
Add one more state to the wave of Universal School Choice overtaking the country. This time the expansion is in New Hampshire. The Granite State just passed a bill that makes its existing school choice program universal, meaning any and all kids in the state can access the state’s Education Savings Accounts (ESAs) to attend the school of their choice.
Families nationally are increasingly getting more educational options for their children, and in states with universal programs, nobody is being left out. Universal programs have no income or race requirements for participation in a voucher or ESA. It’s why they call it educational freedom.
The expansion of programs nationwide stands in direct contrast with what’s happened in Illinois, where Gov. J.B. Pritzker and his Democratic supermajorities allowed the state’s only choice program to sunset in late 2023.
With that action, they killed the opportunity for thousands of kids to find better options to learn. Illinois’ public schools are failing to do their job, with more than 1.1 million students unable to read at grade level. Illinois parents deserve more choices.
School choice, and universal programs in particular, now practically surrounds Illinois. And with that parents should be increasingly asking why Gov. Pritzker and his party’s supermajorities reject school choice for Illinois’ children.
Why don’t Illinois parents have the same options that exist in Iowa and Indiana? Or in Ohio or Florida or Arizona?
In Iowa, for example, every single kid in that state can access an $8,000 Education Savings Account. That account can be used not only for tuition at a private school, but also for tutoring, online classes, textbooks and more.
In Indiana, students have access to tuition vouchers worth $7,200, and beginning this year, its program is universal as well.
School choice just across the border will increasingly give Illinois families another reason to leave our state. Already, Illinoisans are leaving for lower taxes and better job opportunities. More choice in education will be just another magnet. Especially when they consider the failure in our public schools, where just 39% and 28% percent of students can read and do math at grade level, respectively. The results for Illinois’ minorities are far worse.
A statewide campaign for school choice should be – and must be – one of the biggest priorities in Illinois. Illinoisans must make it toxic for our legislators to oppose school choice.
Read more from Wirepoints:
- Chicago’s Mayor Johnson wants the ultra rich to ‘step up.’ They’re more likely to step out.
- Common sense prevails for once in the Illinois statehouse
- Illinois’ 2026 budget: the failure of good intentions
- Illinois education officials look to hide their failures by lowering reading, math standards. Just say no.
Audio and summary 
If this bill passes, say goodbye to local control over all Illinois parks and expect to see open drug and alcohol use, needles, no sanitation and fire hazards, but no ordinary park users.
America has soundly rejected the teachers unions. No Democrat from IL need bother with a national election.
Advocates of school choice misunderstand the purpose of taxation for education. It is not to educate anyone’s specific child, but to support a system of public schools that any child can attend, regardless of their family’s finances. People wanting other choices can pay for it themselves.
Universal school choice empowers ALL primary and secondary schoolchildren to use tax dollars to attend participating private or zoned or nonzoned public schools, not just public schools. Likewise, college students use government grants and loans to attend public or private schools. I attended public schools from kindergarten through two graduate degrees, and they worked very well for me. However, private schools are better options for others. Live and let live.
That may have been the original purpose of taxation for education but, at least in Illinois and particularly Chicago, it has become a vehicle to support the CTU and a political agenda that is very often at odds with the beliefs of many of the taxpayers who support it. And doesn’t begin to accomplish the education of those entrusted to it. Concerned parents in Illinois have no other option thanks to the power of the CTU and the governor.
Sounds good in theory if the public schools were providing an education comparable to private schools. But when test scores are so terrible and the students are nearly illiterate, government is not doing its part. Who is holding government responsible for the quality of education? Taxpayers should be getting what they’re paying for, even if it’s other than a public school.