Sen. Durbin throws Illinois students under the bus, including kids from his own East St. Louis – Wirepoints

By: Ted Dabrowski and John Klingner

It was a year and half ago that Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Illinois’ Democratic supermajorities killed off school choice in Illinois. They refused to extend the Invest in Kids Act that gave thousands of kids the chance to escape failing schools. And with that, Illinois became the first state in the country to wipe out its entire school choice program in one fell swoop.

Now Sen. Dick Durbin is making sure things in Illinois stay that way, including in East St. Louis, Durbin’s home town where just 5% of high schoolers can read at grade level. 

Durbin opposes a new federal program that would deliver school choice to students in all 50 states, called the Educational Choice for Children Act (ECCA), according to the Center Square. The program, supported by the President and Republican majorities, is part of the proposed budget omnibus currency being negotiated by Congress.

The ECCA, which we’ve written about in detail here, would create a $5 billion federal tax credit scholarship, granting as many as one million children access to vouchers or Education Savings Accounts (ESAs). 

Durbin should know exactly what we’re talking about when we champion giving all Illinois kids more choices for education. Durbin’s own parents sent him to Assumption High School in East St. Louis – a private school operated by the Catholic Diocese of Belleville.

We don’t know how well-performing East St. Louis schools were then, but today they are failing children in a dramatic way. Only 2 in 10 children across the entire 4,500-student district can read at grade level, and less than 1 in 10 can do math.

The district’s two high schools have the worst results of all. At East St. Louis Senior HS, just 5% of students score proficient in reading on the SAT and just 2% score proficient in math.

The SIU charter school is even worse with 7% reading and 0% math. 

To add insult to injury, East St. Louis graduates 74% of its students each year.

Durbin makes up all kinds of reasons why he opposes school choice – he says it siphons resources from public schools, he questions the quality of teachers in private schools and private school curriculums, he thinks it doesn’t help disabled students, and he suggests failures with homeschooling.

None of them are valid. 

The “siphons funds” argument is nonsense given East St. Louis is now spending over $31,000 per student annually, and yet the system still fails children. 

As for curriculums and teacher quality, does Durbin really want to defend the current public school system as it gets further and further away from literacy and numeracy?

When it comes to disabled students, it can’t hurt that they have more choices.

And Sen. Durbin’s last concern would be comical if the issue wasn’t so dismal. He’s worried that homeschool parents “might not be really educating” their kids. He clearly has no idea how badly Illinois schools are performing. And he clearly does not know the passion with which many homeschooling parents approach education.

Yes, Durbin has thrown Illinois kids under the bus. And that includes kids in his own hometown, whom he should be championing.

Read more from Wirepoints:

• New Illinois law makes it tougher for voters to block school district borrowings/tax hikes. Effingham good example.
• New Hampshire joins the Universal School Choice wave. Illinois increasingly a black sheep.
• Illinois education officials look to hide their failures by lowering reading, math standards. Just say no.
• Illinois politicians killed school choice. Now the federal government could deliver it anyway.