Waukegan, beleaguered, needs school choice for a comeback

Chicago’s North Shore is synonymous with million-dollar homes and top-notch schools. For decades, families have left Chicago to raise their families and educate their children in the North Shore suburbs. But tucked away within those wealthy villages is a city with schools on the other end of the spectrum. Waukegan, with a population of more...

Chicago’s North Shore is synonymous with million-dollar homes and top-notch schools. For decades, families have left Chicago to raise their families and educate their children in the North Shore suburbs.

But tucked away within those wealthy villages is a city with schools on the other end of the spectrum. Waukegan, with a population of more than 90,000 people, sits on the shores of Lake Michigan. It’s just minutes away from prosperous communities such as Lake Bluff, Lake Forest and Libertyville. But despite its proximity to wealth and success, Waukegan’s history and its schools have traveled a much different path over the past four decades.

Historically a successful manufacturing and trading hub, Waukegan companies began shuttering their factories as manufacturing in the Midwest took a hit in the 1970s and 80s. Gone are the many companies that formed the economic backbone of Waukegan, hurting the city’s economy, its job market and housing values.

The collapse in manufacturing led to a massive shift in the city’s demographics. Hispanic and African-American families moved to a more affordable Waukegan in search of the same educational opportunities and stability promised in other areas of the northern suburbs. Hispanics now make up more than half of Waukegan’s total population and Hispanic students represent nearly 75 percent of the population in Waukegan schools.

But the North Shore address has not translated into quality educational opportunities for most of the children in Waukegan. Despite spending nearly $12,000 per child and receiving over 60 percent of its funding from state and federal sources, Waukegan schools have consistently underperformed and are alarmingly inferior to those in surrounding villages.

Just 16 miles away in Lake Forest and Lake Bluff, 87 percent of high school students are “ready for college course work” as determined by ACT scores. In contrast, only 16 percent of Waukegan students are college ready.

The situation in Waukegan has reached the point where the Illinois State Board of Education, or ISBE, has put Waukegan Community Unit School District #60 on its target list of takeover districts. ISBE is seeking power to oust elected school boards that failed to “meet accreditation for governance reasons” and replace them with an ISBE-picked “independent authority”.

But giving control to another government agency doesn’t give parents and students any more power over their educational choices than they had before.

Families should be given more control over their children’s education. For too long, Waukegan families have been limited by a lack of alternatives for schooling and continue to be forced into an educational system that doesn’t meet the unique needs of each child and family.

Private schools, religious schools, charter schools and schools that leverage online learning should all be on the table for Waukeganites.

The city’s comeback starts with empowering parents to choose a quality education for their children.