The issue of school choice is one that Barack Obama just can’t seem to escape.

In his adopted hometown of Washington, DC, the President has given families and lawmakers the silent treatment on the future of the DC Opportunity Scholarship Program - a program that for years has allowed students to escape failing District schools and attend local private ones. Though families are over the moon with the options DCOSP has opened up to them and kids are doing better than ever in their new schools, Obama has quietly cut funding for the federally budgeted program with the stroke of a pen and denied new applicants the opportunity to enroll.

By contrast, in his true hometown of Chicago, 22,000 elementary school kids are on the verge of receiving the same hope and change now closed to DC families.

A bill that passed the Illinois Senate last month and catapulted out of the House Executive Committee (10 to 1) last week on a positive trajectory to a full vote would rescue students from the worst public schools in the Windy City through the offer of a voucher their parents could use to enroll them in the private school of their choice.

And the irony? The proposed Chicago voucher program has been championed by a former colleague of (and sometimes adviser to) the President: Democratic state Senator (Rev.) James Meeks.

Meeks joins a long line of school choice leaders who break the myth that it is a purely political issue:

“To me education is a moral issue, and we’re offering a humane answer from people of both parties and all colors who think it’s a moral tragedy to see three generations of Chicago children go without a real education.”

Charters are not only closing the achievement gap for those stuck in failing schools but educating diverse student populations that represent wide variation in income and race.

But what about their effect on students’ futures?

A study looked at the achievement and movement of charter students in Florida and Chicago and has found a direct (positive) impact on graduation rate and college matriculation.

Two key findings:

Students who attend a charter high school are 7 to 15 percentage points more likely to earn a standard diploma than students who attend a traditional public high school. Similarly, those attending a charter high school are 8 to 10 percentage points more likely to attend college.

The “what” is clear. Charter schools are providing the necessary environment for students to break the 70 percent graduation rate and not only earn their high school diploma but move on to college in many cases.

The “why” may take a little more time to nail down, but whatever it is, it’s working.

Maybe it’s a good thing that the President-elect hasn’t chosen his education secretary yet. While education buffs are chomping at the bit to be the first to have predicted the winner, and ready to read into the selection (in error) what will happen to education over the next decade, we’re thinking that the trouble in Chicago may not bode well for a leading contender, Arne Duncan.

We’ve not been the biggest cheerleader, even before the feds whisked away his Governor in the middle of the night. Duncan is praised for upsetting the status quo but in reality, he’s been a reformer-lite.  Don’t get me wrong. I’ll take a little over none any day. But Duncan’s Renaissance 2010 was carefully scripted to close down only the very, very worst schools (not all the bad ones) and to replace them with only a handful of  new  providers, who have  to contend  with many of the  same rules that  have  long interfered with  well-intentioned  efforts in  urban school  systems.  Chicago’s charter environment – 30 strong  - is stuck there, thanks to a legislative environment that has capped its growth. We can’t find much evidence that Duncan has been roaming Springfield’s halls trying to lift that since he arrived. He thinks he has enough authority to do what it takes. We disagree. The proof is in the figgy pudding – Chicago school kids are thankfully no longer in the worst school district in the nation (1987, Former Ed Secretary William J. Bennett) but they are still pretty near rock bottom. 

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