Op-Ed: Deering Urges Gov. Pritzker to opt Illinois into Federal Scholarship Program

Over the last week, we have watched families across the country engage in meaningful discussions about school choice. At a time when the federal administration is shaking up education-seeking to reduce bureaucracy and return dollars to the states, closest to our students-there is a sharp debate over how public schools will be affected. The Working Families Tax Cut Act reflects a simple truth: families deserve affordable access to the education that best meets their child's individual needs.

There is a quiet misunderstanding at the heart of the school choice debate.

Too often, families who choose an option outside the traditional public school system are dismissed or mislabeled-portrayed as ideological or dismissive of public education. That narrative ignores the reality I hear from parents across Illinois.

Most parents do not begin this journey wanting to challenge a system. They begin because something is wrong.

For many families, school choice is not about preference; it is about protection.

It is the little girl who dreads walking into school because bullying has become routine-and unresolved. It is the young man whose learning differences are treated as disruptions instead of needs. It is the anxious middle schooler whose mental health steadily declines under constant pressure or fear. It is the brilliant girl who is bored, disengaged, and slowly giving up. It is the child with trauma, medical challenges, or sensory sensitivities that a large system-through no malice, but real constraints-cannot adequately support.

Parents notice these changes first. They see it in sleepless nights, or they hear the pleas of stomachaches in the morning. They wonder why their child is smiling less and less.

Choosing a different educational path is rarely easy; more often than not, it is harder. Frequently it brings financial strain, longer commutes, and painful tradeoffs for the parents and children alike. Parents may need to switch jobs, say no to opportunities; children must say goodbye to the only friends they've ever known. Parents make these sacrifices not because they reject public schools-but because they refuse to ignore what their child is telling them.

That is exactly what a parent is supposed to do. They are not thinking about the next federal or local election, so let's stop talking in political slogans about this debate. They are motivated by love for their child as all parents are.

This conversation is too often reduced to public versus private, a false choice that misses the real issue altogether. It gets reduced to this binary choice because we are so used to thinking about systems. I want us to think about children.

Children are not interchangeable, and they are certainly not statistics to be processed by a system. They are unique individuals with different needs, challenges, and strengths. Expecting one model to work equally well for every child is not equity-it is unrealistic.

Ask any mom, and she will tell you that none of her children are the same, even if she has many. I have a friend who often jokes that she has four opposites. We treat our children differently inside our homes; how we look at educating them should be no different.

The number of students does not change. The responsibility to educate them does not disappear. The only change for adults is that they may need to teach in a different school, yet still fulfill their passion for educating children. The only change for kids is that they are in the classroom where they will actually learn.

I want world-class public schools. It is why I serve on my local school board! I want every neighborhood school to be a place where families feel confident sending their children. But wanting something does not make it true today. And while adults debate systems, funding models, and future reforms, children are growing up now. They do not get extra years back because we were still arguing. I am not willing to waste a child's education while the adults bicker.

School choice is not an attack on public education; it is a recognition that even the most well-intentioned systems cannot serve every child in the same way. No system can, so rather than deny reality, let's work within.

That is why I urge Governor Pritzker to opt Illinois into the federal scholarship program. Doing so could help fill critical gaps for students with disabilities, children who need tutoring, or families struggling to afford required uniforms for career and technical education programs. Scholarship amounts are determined by scholarship-granting organizations and vary based on need-but any scholarship amount can make a meaningful difference for a family seeking additional support for their child.

Children deserve more than our debates. They deserve our courage.

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