School Choice Threatened In New York City, Milwaukee

Education reform through school choice and voucher programs in New York City and Milwaukee are under threat by teacher's unions and politicians who seek to "regulate the program[s] to death," according to the Wall Street Journal.

Two school choice programs, both with proven track records of overwhelming success when compared to their government-run counterpart schools, could become the latest victim in the kind of vicious partisanship we at American Solutions seek to transcend.

By controlling school boards, the education establishment and its political allies in Milwaukee are essentially preventing the expansion of charter schools, much the same way the Detroit government-schools have barred charter schools inside the city limits for fear of health competition.

Let's take a look at what's happening:

The Milwaukee Parental Choice Program provides vouchers for some 20,000 low-income, mostly minority children to attend private schools. Because the 20-year-old program polls above 60% with voters, and even higher among minorities, killing it outright would be unpopular. Instead, Democratic Governor Jim Doyle wants to reduce funding and pass "reforms" designed to regulate the program to death.

To that end, Democrats in the state legislature voted last week to cut per-pupil payments to private schools by $165 while increasing public school spending by $400 per student. Taxpayer support for students in the program is only $6,607 per student to begin with, which is less that half of the $13,468 for students in Milwaukee public schools.

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A recent evaluation of the Milwaukee choice program found that its high school graduation rate was 85%, compared to 58% for students in the city's public schools. Between 1994 and 2008, the voucher program saved taxpayers more than $180 million.

Remarkable. The numbers should speak for themselves, but even more important to note is that school choice is being advocated by those most in need, by those who have had to live with the inferior government-run alternatives.

That those in greatest need are fighting the strongest for it should underscore that school choice and education reform are no limited special interest causes.

Meanwhile, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is in a battle royal with the teachers union and state politicians who want to strip him of mayoral control of the schools. Since 2002, the Mayor has been able to hire and fire the schools chancellor and appoint a majority on the city's Board of Education.

Academic results argue strongly for continuing the policy, which expires June 30 unless state lawmakers renew it. According to the latest test scores, 82% of children in grades three through eight scored at or above grade level on this year's standardized tests, up from 74% last year and 57% three years ago.

Mayoral control has also eased the expansion of charter schools, many of which are performing better than the district schools. In Harlem, where 19 of the 23 elementary and intermediate public schools are failing, all of the third graders at the Harlem Success Academy passed the most recent state math exam and 95% passed the English exam.

Re-read that. One-hundred percent of Harlem Academy students passed their state math exam. Nearly as many passes their English exam.

And the unions and establishment politicians want to keep our children locked in to government-run schools where, just 3 years ago, barely more than 50 percent scored at their grade level?

Education is the civil rights struggle of our time, and when it comes to the right type of reform, the American Solution is clearly to preserve choice.

Tom Shakely is a student at the Pennsylvania State University and Web Editor for The Philadelphia Bulletin. Find more at his website or e-mail him.