We’re still wondering whether Gov. JB Pritzker will opt into a new federal school choice program, and we know we’re not alone. The governor’s public messaging has ranged from bashing the program (and the president) to saying he just needs more time to consider the facts.
While he tries to buy more time, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office is now saying the governor is “supportive of the federal tax credit scholarship and its potential to help New York students and schools,” Chalkbeat reported last week. A Hochul spokesperson did tell Chalkbeat that they’re still waiting for information from the federal government on the full program details, and the Treasury Department reportedly is working on program guidelines ahead of the Jan. 1, 2027, deadline for states to opt in.
Signaling support isn’t the same thing as signing on the dotted line, but going on the record in this manner is a big deal, especially in a blue state. Hochul’s team surely understood the governor was opening herself up to attacks and a coordinated effort from teachers unions to stop her from making good on her support.
We view her positioning as cautious and courageous acceptance. Pritzker’s stance conveys mostly skepticism.
All but one of the 29 states that have opted into the school choice program is led by Republicans. Democratic governors are plainly wary of becoming early blue-state adopters of a program closely associated with the Trump administration and opposed by teachers unions.
“Private school vouchers are a scam designed to undermine public education,” Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis Gates said in February of the program, capturing teachers unions’ deep skepticism of school choice.
That resistance is wrongheaded and obstructive. A child should receive an education where she can get it. Illinois now has free money on the table to give kids that option if their public school isn’t working for them.
The only blue-state governor willing to take that leap thus far is Colorado’s governor, Jared Polis, a commonsense leader on more than just this issue.
If Hochul joins him in OK’ing the federal school choice program, it’s possible the dam will break on Democratic holdouts. There’s safety in numbers, after all, and every time another blue-state leader signs up, it gets easier and easier for others to follow suit.
Hochul, like Polis, is often viewed as a centrist Democrat, and though she’s taken strong pro-abortion rights stances and raised the minimum wage, on things like criminal justice she takes a commonsense approach. That tracks here — anyone stepping out on this issue by nature must be more open to considering issues on a standalone basis, considering their merits and the benefits to constituents first instead of deferring to the party line.
Of course, given that Pritzker is mulling a presidential run, he’s clearly worrying here about how the school issue will affect his progressive bona fides. We think Pritzker would do better to position himself in a more moderate political lane, in which case he’d benefit from taking a page out of Polis and Hochul’s book.
Opting in would go a long way in repairing the harm Illinois Democrats did in 2023 when they ripped away low-income scholarships for kids participating in a similar Illinois school choice program.
You can support public schools and still believe in giving families options.
Far from being inherently unjust, this is a real-world approach to how education should work. We should not force kids into a model that doesn’t work for them. Doing so only leads to frustration and disappointment, not just from the students and their families but from those on the front lines trying to teach.
The unions feel uneasy about the prospect of more kids having a choice in where they learn the three R’s, and with good reason. More kids would likely opt out of underperforming public schools if they had access to scholarship money. Increasingly, that’s what those with means are already doing. In January, a report from the trusted Kids First Chicago showed that CPS is serving a smaller share of the city’s school-age population, evidence that parental choice is in no small part behind CPS’ enrollment woes. In 2018, CPS enrolled about 75% of Chicago’s school-age children. By 2023, that share had fallen to roughly 71%.
So where does this leave us?
It leaves us with families understandably frustrated with a system that is producing unacceptable academic outcomes and political leaders unwilling to allow for other options, even as some of those leaders choose private schools for their own children.
We’ll be watching to see where Hochul ultimately comes down on the federal school choice program. We suspect Pritzker will be, too. Our hope is that both have the courage to opt in — for the good of the students in New York and Illinois.
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