MTEA President Urges Against Voucher Program Expansion

MTEA President Dennis Oulahan urged the Assembly Committee on Education Reform to oppose a bill to expand the voucher program to private high schools in Milwaukee County (Tuesday, January 8, 2008).

“The voucher program has been detrimental to the majority of children in Milwaukee who attend Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS). It has created a drain on MPS' budget and has led to cuts in important programs and services that our students depend on,” said Dennis.

Since the private school voucher program began, MPS has seen a decline in the services it has been able to provide through educational assistants, guidance counselors, social workers, nurses and other specialists, Oulahan said.

Class sizes of 40 students are no longer uncommon, even in kindergarten and in the highest performing schools, such as Rufus King and Riverside High Schools. Special education caseloads are in some cases unmanageable.

“Students should not have to share desks, textbooks, computers or other materials, yet MPS students are forced to do that every day,” Oulahan said.

Despite the more than $636 million that has been spent on the voucher program from 1990 through June 2007, little accountability is demanded of the participating schools. Participating private schools do not meet the same standards as public schools, are not subject to the same testing requirements as public schools and are not required to employ certified teachers, much less individuals who have college degrees.

In addition, an Economic Policy Institute study published in October 2007 indicates that competition from the voucher program in Milwaukee has not resulted in academic achievement gains for students in MPS.

“The only competition is for resources,” said Oulahan. “The program should not be expanded until stricter accountability standards are in place, and until we know - using apples to apples comparisons - that voucher schools are educating our children in the ways we have come to expect from our public school educators.”

Oulahan said taxpayers and citizens are entitled by law to see detailed information about each school in MPS, but that is not the case with the voucher program. “It seems that even though my tax dollars are funding education in private schools, I have no right to any information about that education. That double-standard must be addressed before any expansion is considered,” he said.

In addition to the problem of inadequate accountability measures for schools participating in the voucher program, AB 637 has serious financial implications for Milwaukee taxpayers. “We are already supporting two school systems, and this bill would require that we also support schools outside of the city. Exacerbating the problem is the highly punitive manner in which vouchers are funded, requiring city taxpayers to pay 45% of the cost of every voucher granted,” Oulahan said.

“We need our legislature to focus on how to better support the majority of children in Milwaukee who attend public schools. A great start would be to implement comprehensive school funding reform,” he continued.

Oulahan noted that MPS is making progress, but a school board goal calls for holding the increase in overall spending to under 1% next school year. “That will result in many more staff and program cuts, making it much more challenging for the educators who are left to continue to provide for our students,” he said.

“We need your support for real reforms that are proven effective with Milwaukee's children. Expanding the voucher program will only hurt the students who most need our help.”