Milwaukee has the oldest and largest voucher system in the country. How is it working?
When looking at vouchers, it is natural to look at Milwaukee because of the length of time it has been in operation.
According to a recent article in The Christian Science Monitor, staff writer Amanda Paulson states that vouchers are a success story. As with anything new, there are kinks to work out and those that take advantage of few restrictions. However, it does give lower income families a true choice in education.
What Are Vouchers?
Vouchers are like a tuition gift card that families can use to enroll their child at the school of their choice. The money that would be used to educate a child at the local public school can be transferred to any school--public or private. Parents decide where to spend this educational fund.
How Long Up and Running?
Milwaukee has had vouchers for over 16 years and the program is expanding. For many families, it has been a saving grace for their children getting a quality education. For families that made the wrong choice in selecting a private school, it has not worked too well. To prevent this in the future, all public and private schools are asked to post their academic statistics so parents have an overview of educational success at each school. Some inferior private schools have been closed.
Why Vouchers?
Overall, public schools in large cities do not have a very high success rate in educating children. New York City is presently restructuring their schools that have the lowest success rates. This new idea seems to be improving schools in a very short time. Parents that are not happy with schools that have a graduation rate of 50-80% should have the right to select better schools for their children. Schools that are not performing academically are also often out of control with bullying. The upper middle class have always had choice in education because they can afford the better schools. Lower income families had to settle with the school in their neighborhood.
Who Gets Vouchers?
Families with incomes that fall below a certain level can apply for vouchers. Amounts up to $6500 travel with the student to the school of their choice. Many of the schools receiving the voucher credits are Catholic and Lutheran schools. Some parents select charter schools or suburban public schools. It is a family's choice.
Other Voucher Options?
Wisconsin, Washington, D.C. and Cleveland are experimenting with vouchers. Florida is trying to enact this option for parents but the Florida senate defeated it by one vote. This is being resubmitted by Gov. Jeb Bush. Edmonton, Canada has a successful voucher system, Canada's Secret.
A Success Story
Messmer Catholic High School in Milwaukee is a voucher success story. Messmer is funded at the 80% level by voucher students. What are the statistics? The daily attendance rate is 95% and 90% of the students go on to a four-year college. This data is holding true every year. This does not include the students that go on to 2-year colleges.
Looking at the success Milwaukee is having, it is pretty hard to argue against vouchers.
Copyright article 2006 Barbara Pytel. All Rights Reserved.
The copyright of the article Vouchers in Milwaukee in Educational Issues is owned by Barbara Pytel. Permission to republish Vouchers in Milwaukee must be granted by the author in writing.
Comments
Jun 8, 2006 5:19 AM
Lynn Byrne
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I like the idea of vouchers. I believe that parents should be able to take the funds allocated by the state for their students education elsewhere if their school is failing or has failed their child.
The argument has always been that vouchers pull money away from public schools that are already struggling because of tight budgets. I would argue, however, that schools should be treated like businesses. If a school is not providing the services required of their customers (the students), and is failing in overall performance efforts, close it. It makes no sense to me to continually throw money at something that has a documented record of failure.
Jun 8, 2006 12:16 PM
Barbara Pytel
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I agree with you, Lynn. What incentive is there to improve a school unless there is competition? Perhaps, No Child Left Behind is putting a little push on things? I am not a supporter of NCLB but at least school scores are made public and there is pressure to improve.
Jun 8, 2006 1:26 PM
Lynn Byrne
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Some districts may actively respond to NCLB mandates. Others, with the help of their state administrative agencies, are finding creative ways to bypass NCLB. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Jun 9, 2006 12:44 PM
Carrie Henderson Weston
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I work in a private center/school that was built just at a time where many people were leaving our state (Michigan.) Consequently, we were covered in the newspaper several times because of our ability to grow when several other private schools were downsizing or closing. For us the key was that our small class sizes meant curriculum geared for each individual child, which is something that many parents felt was missing in schools with 30-35 kids per class.
We also had several kids come to our school because they weren't being "challenged enough" at public school-- such as a kindergartener reading at a third grade level. One might worry though that if all of these children leave public school for the private alternatives, will this affect the test scores of the schools they have left behind?
Jun 9, 2006 1:46 PM
Barbara Pytel
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I think that is when self-assessment kicks in. Why are the scores low? The public school I work in began Guided Reading 6 years ago. We saw tremendous improvement in an already good situation as far as scores. But, the word got out and neighboring schools began to observe the small group reading concept. They then returned to their home school and reported on what they saw. Soon, neighboring schools began Guided Reading. It had a ripple effect and Guided Reading is no longer a novelty. Schools that have something that works are usually willing to share that information. Hoarding of knowledge isn't usually the problem. The problem is a willingness to change--try something new. I believe that some people need to be forced to change and the pressure to change could be when you begin losing students. A crises can be a good thing.
It has always amazed me how people cling to a concept that has failed. They keep doing the same thing over and over knowing it is not successful. The blame goes here and there, but they keep doing the same thing hoping for different results. If the students came from better homes, if the parents would care more, if they came clean and fed, etc. While these may be valid concerns, we must find ways to work around them and be successful teaching students. And, sometimes that means an overhaul of what we are presently doing.
A friend once told me, "Education is the only profession where you can successfully blame the victims."
