For the past three years, the Chicago school board has quietly expanded a program that gives vouchers to select high schoolers such as Diaz to attend private and public local colleges so they can earn credit to satisfy the board's newly required career education classes. Under the College Excel program, Diaz takes vocational-education courses at DeVry Institute of Technology, the most expensive private college under the board's initiative. Though he could have taken the course at Curie, he chose DeVry because he said it offers a better education. The board has also included several public colleges in the program. Generally, vouchers are publicly funded grants given to students to attend private or parochial schools.
Critics say vouchers undermine public education, sending tax dollars to parochial schools.
But supporters say every student should get a share of public education funds to enroll in a school of his or her choice. The Chicago Teachers Union, echoing the opinions of other unions about any form of vouchers, opposes the program. These are my tax dollars as well as yours that are going into funding a for-profit school. We ought to have our own schools that are training kids for that, not just paying someone else. It seems like a quick-fix idea that someone is promulgating.