The Illinois House voted down what would have been the state’s first private school voucher program.

The program would have given children attending the Chicago Public School District’s lowest performing, most overcrowded schools the option to leave. Rather than spend money to send students to public schools, the state would give them a voucher worth about 37-hundred dollars to go to a private school, beginning in the fall of 2011.

Republican Representative Suzi Bassi of Palatine pleaded with legislators to pass the measure.

BASSI: This bill is about kids. Kids who can’t read and who cannot do basic math. Kids who don’t have a decent school environment. They need to have a chance to be productive members of society. And history has shown that these kids will fail if they stay in these schools.

But critics won out, listing a host of problems. They say poor families won’t be able to afford making up the difference in tuition. Teachers unions also say there’s no proof private schools improve student achievement.