Why Milwaukee Voucher Students are Returning to Public Schools
By Mary Ellen Flannery
Clarence Montgomery has talked to dozens of parents and guardians whose children have attended voucher schools in Milwaukee, and they all have said the same thing: they want the best education for their children.And that’s why about 150 of them left those schools this past summer, opting to enroll in Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) instead. “We had no idea how easy it would be to recruit people back,” said Bob Peterson, president of the Milwaukee Teachers’ Education Association (MTEA). “It shows the power of organizing.”
It’s hard to compete with the free iPads, Kindle readers, and other flashy gifts handed out by private school administrators to newly enrolled students, but MTEA is determined to provide parents with something more enticing than iPads: the best education for their children. And MTEA teachers know that’s what their students can get in public schools.
So this past summer, MTEA and MPS jointly hired and trained six canvassers, including Montgomery, and sent them into Milwaukee neighborhoods to have frank, information-fueled conversations with parents, grandparents, and guardians. Those canvassers found many parents concerned that their voucher schools didn’t provide services to students with disabilities, or after-school programs, said Montgomery. Others