Sen. Kathleen Vinehout:
Is state ready for corporate reformers of education?
“I just don’t understand vouchers, choice, and charter schools,” the man told me. “Could you explain?”
Public education is undergoing a radical change. What was predominately a local school governed by a locally elected school board is poised to become a plethora of choices: Religious schools paid for with public money through a voucher — sort of like a coupon. Independent privately operated charter schools paid for with public money. Online virtual charter schools are also paid for with public money.
And the local public school — that is getting less money because of many of the new choices.
State officials recently announced enrollment information related to statewide private school vouchers. Lawmakers who supported the state budget voted to expand the payments for students who go to private schools, known as voucher schools. The information released shows four out of five students who received public money for private tuition for the first time this year were already enrolled in a private school last year.
Data on the performance of these alternatives to public schools are inconclusive, poor or not available.
According to the recently released 2012-13 report cards for virtual charter schools, half of virtual school students were receiving their education from a school that did not meet expectations. Virtual charter schools are online schools paid for with public money.
Twenty years of experience with private vouchers in Milwaukee shows no major differences in the performance of private voucher students with public school students. The Legislative Audit Bureau in 2011 reviewed the final of five years of study to conclude students in Milwaukee who attend private schools with vouchers show few differences on standardized tests from their cohorts in public schools.
The 25 private schools in the new statewide voucher expansion received state money — over
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