Around the Web: “Given a choice, who picks a failing school for their child?”

Eighteen states around the country have existing scholarship tax credit programs. Today, we’d like to share a newspaper editorial from Illinois that does a fine job of explaining how these programs work, as well as some of the progress that’s being made:

Up to $75 million in state tax credits will be offered per year for five years to those who donate to private school scholarship funds. Those scholarships are then targeted to the neediest students, giving their parents an alternative to public schools.

Offering someone a tax credit for a donation is very different than school vouchers. Teacher unions perceive a threat, but the reality is this is a limited experiment to introduce some choice into an education environment that really needs aggressive competition.

Tax dollars are not being taken from public schools and following the students as in a voucher program. These are private donors choosing to donate towards private school educations with the potential to better educate those youngsters and boost their chances of being deeply connected to their community through faith and personal attention.

Click here to read the whole story courtesy of the Belleville News-Democrat.