9486 in the collection
Milwaukee Vouchers Show What May Be in Store for DC
Ohanian comment: One can wonder why the Washington Post refused to publish Gerald Bracey's piece highly critical vouchers--at the same time they were running pro-D.C. voucher op-eds. This piece should make a few people pause.
MILWAUKEE -- The school day was almost over, but before the students were excused, fifth-grader Larry Williams had a very public confession to make.
"I would like to apologize to Miss Guenther for chewing gum in her class," he told teachers and fellow students at St. Marcus Lutheran School, a showcase for Milwaukee's voucher program, the nation's first and most extensive experiment in publicly funded private education. The other 250 pupils gathered in the school cafeteria applauded, then joined hands with their teachers and recited the Lord's Prayer.
A mixture of Christian revival meeting and mass indoctrination session, "Sacred Circle" is an important part of the daily routine at St. Marcus, one of 100 private schools that participate in Milwaukee's $67 million voucher program.
Even though the majority of students at St. Marcus are black neighborhood children from single-parent families who had never set foot in a Lutheran church, they were quick to adapt to the school's strict, no-excuses approach and pervasive emphasis on religion.
St. Marcus offers a glimpse of what could lie in store for Washington if Congress passes legislation approving a voucher program for the nation's capital. A bill authorizing private tuition grants of as much as $7,500 for 1,300 low-income families cleared the House by one vote this month.
In Milwaukee, as in Washington, the debate over school choice has proved divisive, pitting longtime allies against each other and bringing together some strange ideological bedfellows.
Thirteen years after the Milwaukee voucher experiment began, there is widespread disagreement over whether the introduction of competition has wrought the educational "revolution" that some supporters predicted. But there is general acknowledgment that voucher schools vary as widely in quality as do public schools.
"There are good voucher schools and there are poor voucher schools, just as there are good public schools and poor public schools," said Anneliese Dickman, a senior researcher at the Public Policy Forum, a nonpartisan educational think tank in Milwaukee.
At one end of the spectrum is a school such as St. Marcus, which offers a highly regarded, traditional education and has just undergone a $5 million renovation, the result of private fund-raising.
At the opposite end are such institutions as Alex's Academics of Excellence, founded by a convicted rapist fired from the public school system in 1991 after being accused of "inappropriate behavior" with female students. The school's former principal recently told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that he saw employees smoke marijuana at school, an allegation denied by the school's lawyer.
Wisconsin education officials say they have little control over Alex's Academics because it is a private school, even though it has received $2.8 million in taxpayers' funds over the years.
"It's easier to start a school legally in Milwaukee and get money for it from the state than it is to open a bar or a gas station," said Bob Peterson, a Milwaukee public school teacher and prominent critic of vouchers.
School choice advocates say the free market will eventually force bad schools out of business. They note that 49 pupils signed up for Alex's Academics this year -- down from 175 last year -- while St. Marcus has expanded from 110 to 250 students over the past two years.
So far, it is unclear whether students learn more in voucher schools than in public schools. "There is evidence both ways," Dickman said.
One problem is a lack of data, as Wisconsin does not require private school students to take the same standardized tests as their public school counterparts.
That poor minority families are willing to take their children out of public schools and put them in a school such as Alex's Academics illustrates "just how desperate" they are, said Tony Higgins, a single African-American parent who educated his two children at voucher schools. He noted that the high school graduation rate for black students in Milwaukee is one of the nation's lowest, around 34 percent.
To qualify for the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program, families must earn less than 175 percent of the federal poverty level. That makes them eligible for tuition vouchers worth up to $5,882 a year, which are paid by the state to the school of their choice. Last year, 11,163 students participated, compared with 89,000 attending traditional public schools. Seven out of 10 voucher schools are religious, either Catholic or Lutheran.
There is a lively debate in Milwaukee over whether the voucher program is pressuring public schools to be more responsive. Advocates point to the growth of charter schools, which are part of the public school system but offer specialized types of education. They say the teachers union has been forced to accept reforms -- including relaxing the once-sacrosanct seniority rule governing new hires -- to compete with private schools.
"We have got to do more public relations, to show parents what we have to offer," acknowledged Deborah Bell, principal of Milwaukee Education Center, a public school that has lost students to St. Marcus. Bell said she may have to accept as much as $100,000 in cuts this year because of lower enrollment. This could mean losing a teacher or a couple of teachers' aides.
— Michael Dobbs
Voucher plan splits Milwaukee: Experiment offers glimpse of what could lie in store for D.C
Washington Post
2003-09-25
http://www.detnews.com/2003/schools/0309/25/a10n-280582.htm
INDEX OF OUTRAGES
Pages: 380
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