North Cook News

State Rep. Tom Morrison (R-Palatine) is decrying a recent report showing steep declines in the performance of Illinois schoolchildren. 

Both the children and the society, according to Morrison, are "deeply affected by what and whether students learn or not." He emphasized that the stakes are so much higher when there is an inadequate option of quality education providers.

“The report is appalling and demonstrates once again that the status quo is unacceptable,” Morrison told North Cook News. “Society benefits enormously when competition and choice are available. Providers of all kinds of goods and services compete and improve their products to draw in clients and customers. Without real school choice, whereby the dollars follow the children to the classroom or education provider that best suits the students' or families' specific needs, the current public school model has a near-monopoly on dollars spent toward education. This report and other data show that despite record tax dollars we’re pouring in, it continues to be a failure in many if not most parts of the state.” 

The basic unit of the society — the family — shouldn’t be left alone in facing these hurdles, Morrison said. There's so much more that needs to be done "for students and families who are trapped by their financial limitations and/or their zip code.”

“This is not a partisan issue," Morrison said. "It’s an issue that affects the survival of our country as we know it. If we’re to remain a largely self-governed people with abounding opportunities to succeed and thrive, we cannot accept an education system that continues to spend record tax dollars while barely moving the needle on such basics as reading, writing, math and science. In many parts of the country, states are expanding school choice programs because there’s abundant need and demand from those across the political and demographic spectrum.”   

The success of a nation comes from a "capable and educated citizenry," Morrison said. 

"We’re more fragile and divided if large swaths of society cannot function as independent adults—simply because we did not provide the tools they and their families desperately needed when they were of school age. This is a no-brainer. Illinois can’t afford to stick to its failed model. School choice will lead to improved outcomes at lower costs. It’s truly a win-win for students, families and society as a whole. A good education opens doors to success and is a great equalizer in society. Conversely, a poor education usually leads to dependency and/or generational poverty. This is why school choice is one of the great civil rights issues of our day and why our country’s future is at stake.” 

According to Wirepoints research, in some Illinois school districts, black children's educational attainment is just over 0%. 

“Our assessment is harsh because student outcomes are beyond dismal and no one, it seems, takes any responsibility for them. Social promotion, hyper-inflated teacher evaluations and misleading ‘accountability’ designations from the Illinois State Board of Education all help to deflect blame,” the report reads. 

Only 2% of black third-grade pupils in Decatur School District 61 can read at school level, and only 1% can handle math at grade level, according to the report. While Decatur's low achievement rates are a stark achievement decline across many different spectrums of the student body, school achievement rates exist throughout the state.

State Sen. Darren Bailey (R-Xenia), a Republican gubernatorial candidate, has questioned the public school systems, as well as the fact that parents are compelled to send their children to those schools if they cannot afford an alternative. 

"Our education system is failing our kids and it is especially failing minority students," Bailey said, according to Macon Reporter. "It is time to empower parents with real choices when it comes to the education of their children. At a minimum, we need to allow parents to choose which public school to send their children [to].”

The release of the research coincides with Awake Illinois' promotion of an event with Corey DeAngelis, a national expert on school choice. Those who use the code "PARENTALRIGHTS" at Awake Illinois will receive complimentary tickets. DeAngelis discussed school choice during a recent filming of the Adam Corolla Show. 

“We don't residentially assign low-income families to government-run grocery stores and tell them that they must use their food stamps at a particular institution. You can choose Wal-Mart, Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s and I can keep going on and on with examples but we do this in so many other areas. Why don't we do it with K-12 education too?” he asked, Dupage Policy Journal reported. 

Awake Illinois' event will be held at the Hotel Arista in Naperville on Saturday, June 18.