THE EDUCATION FORUM

Hosted by The Center for Education Reform

An impending Wisconsin Supreme Court decision will have a substantial impact on two private school choice programs that assist low-income Milwaukee students. This paper summarizes the history and current status of these programs.

• The Milwaukee Parental Choice Program (MPCP) is the first taxpayer-financed program for K-12 students in the United States. It was started in 1990 and is limited to non-sectarian schools and about 1,500 students. Under the impending court decision, it could grow to more than 15,000 students and include sectarian schools.

• A privately financed program — Partners Advancing Values in Education (PAVE) — started two years after the MPCP began. PAVE was created as a temporary program, to help needy students until the MPCP could be expanded. It is the nation's largest such program for children in grades K-12. PAVE scholarships may be used at non-sectarian or sectarian schools.

The MPCP and PAVE programs have grown significantly. Figures 1 and 2 compare the number of students and schools in the programs' first years of operation with the most recent school year.

The MPCP and PAVE programs share three common goals: more educational options for low-income students; improved achievement for participating students; and educational reform within the Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS).

Eligible and participating students — MPCP. Several studies have found that the MPCP targets students with the most academic needs and the fewest educational options.

• A University of Wisconsin study found that "...choice students...enter [the MPCP] very near the bottom in terms of academic achievement." Because of the program's eligibility criteria — see Attachment 1 — the UW study said the "spirit and letter of the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program are a stark contrast to public subsidy of elite or exclusive private education. Rather, [it provides] opportunities for families that cannot easily exercise choice by changing residence or purchasing private education."

• A study by the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute found that more than two-thirds of Milwaukee families eligible for school choice are headed by a female with no husband present. About 45% are headed by someone with no high school degree. About 43% receive public assistance. Wisconsin's Legislative Audit Bureau said that "[m]ore than 96 per cent of participating students are [racial and] ethnic minorities" and family income of choice students was about half the average of all MPS families.

• Census data for Milwaukee show that only about 7% of low-income children attend private schools. In contrast, about 30% of Milwaukee children in middle- and upper-income families attend private schools. About 33% of Milwaukee teachers choose private schools for their children.

Eligible students and participation — PAVE. PAVE uses the same low-income eligibility threshold as MPCP. Still, PAVE families, overall, differ from MPCP families in terms of demographic characteristics. For example, about 45% of PAVE families belong to racial or ethnic minorities. Fewer than 20% of PAVE parents have no high school degree. It also appears likely that the income of PAVE families is somewhat higher than that of MPCP families. Factors which might explain these differences are that: (i) PAVE scholarships cover no more than half of a student's tuition (MPCP families have no tuition expense); and (ii) many PAVE students were enrolled in private schools when the program began (that was not so with the MPCP).

Educational outcomes. Several research teams have studied educational aspects of the MPCP and PAVE programs. Significant findings are summarized below.

• Researchers from Harvard University and the University of Houston compared math and reading test scores of MPCP students with students who applied but were not selected. Because of the program's random selection procedure, these two groups were similar in terms of background characteristics and prior academic achievement. The Harvard-Houston team found that students in the choice program at least three years achieved statistically significant gains. See Figure 3.

Figure 3. The MPCP effect on test scores for students in the program at least three years, (Harvard-Houston study).

• Contrary to the Harvard-Houston and Princeton studies, the UW study said MPCP students "perform[ed] approximately the same as MPS students" on academic achievement tests. The Harvard-Houston research team called this an erroneous conclusion, explained by the fact that the UW study "compared [MPCP] students from low-income families with [MPS] students from more advantaged backgrounds. . ."

• As for parent involvement and satisfaction, the UW study found that:

Parental attitudes toward schools, opinions of the Choice Program, and parental involvement were very positive...Attitudes toward choice schools and the education of their children were much more positive than their evaluation of their prior public schools.

The UW team also said that:

[C]ontacts of schools by parents, and participation in teacher conferences and school organizations were all generally higher. The same was true for critical home activities, such as reading, mathematics, and other homework. The exception was that there was less frequent parent-school contact over disciplinary matters, which we interpret as a positive change.

• In the fall of 1995, an independent newspaper, Education Week, published an in-depth review of the MPCP. It concluded that:

...the Milwaukee choice plan...has deeply involved long-alienated parents in their children's schooling. This is of crucial importance, standing as a powerful retort to educators who have who have long suggested that parents burdened by social and economic problems could devote but minimal attention to educational issues.

The State of Wisconsin's last report on the MPCP was issued in 1995. While the Department of Public Instruction is preparing a new report, it will not be useful as an evaluation tool. The report will not involve a representative sample of choice students and will not compare the performance of choice students with a similar group of MPS students.

There have been four independent studies of the PAVE program.

• The first three identified high levels of parent involvement and satisfaction.

• They also found that students "who had always attended private schools scored significantly higher...than did the transfer students" and that "for transfer students, length of time in private schools was positively associated with academic achievement."

• The fourth PAVE report included a comparison of "mobility rates" among PAVE schools and MPS schools. The PAVE schools studied enrolled 41% of all PAVE's elementary students. The average annual mobility rate at these PAVE schools was 6%, compared to 30% for MPS elementary schools.

• Consistent with the finding of less mobility at PAVE schools, the fourth year report also found that ". . .the longer families have participated in PAVE, the less likely they are to have moved, the fewer times they have moved, and the longer it has been since they have moved. PAVE schools attract and keep families."

PAVE currently is preparing reports on middle school and high school graduation rates of students receiving its scholarships.

The impact on the Milwaukee Public Schools. Beyond helping those who exercise choice, a broader objective of school choice is improved public schools, where the majority of low-income urban students will continue to attend. While there have been several studies of choice participants, there have not yet been studies of how choice has affected MPS. There is, however, some anecdotal evidence.

For example, after Governor Thompson signed the 1995 bill expanding the MPCP, then-MPS Superintendent Robert Jasna said:

[Choice] has served as a wake-up call for MPS. . .It does force people to begin to change. We have moved very, very slowly."

Two months later, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported an MPS plan to increase parent choice within MPS, citing "...a desire by board members to make their schools competitive, particularly...when the Legislature has expanded choice programs to include religious schools..." Former School Board President Mary Bills said: "Parents have told us [choice] is what they want." In voting to approve the plan, The Journal Sentinel said "[s]everal school board members...cited pressure from the expansion of religious school choice as a reason behind the reform effort." Board member Joe Fisher said: "It's time for change. Give the parents their right to make a choice."

More recently, in September 1997, all nine members of the school board wrote an open letter to "Friends of Public Education in Milwaukee." The communication, on PAVE letterhead, said:

"Regardless of our individual views about school choice...PAVE's effort to afford disadvantaged families their first choice for quality education is a critical initiative — not only to help thousands of poor families but to support the reforms MPS is trying to make."

The letter also said the board's "First Choice Within MPS" program was aimed in part at expanding popular programs so that fewer low-income families would choose private schools.

The fiscal impact on MPS. Choice opponents say the MPCP could create a financial hardship on public schools because it is financed by state aid which otherwise would go to MPS.

This view is not universally shared, even among MPS staff. After the Legislature approved the 1995 expansion, several district administrators prepared a written analysis of the potential impact. A news account of their findings reported that: "Expanded school choice could result in substantial overall savings for Milwaukee Public Schools and allow the district to ease classroom overcrowding, three reports presented...to the School Board show." The headline accompanying the story read:

Official MPS actions demonstrate at least a tacit acceptance of these conclusions. For example, to deal with the educational and financial pressures caused by overcrowding, MPS has expanded its use of non-profit private schools to educate district students. In 1997-98, more than 4,000 MPS students were educated per district contract with private schools, including several schools that also serve students in the MPCP program. In the early 1990s, fewer than 2,000 MPS students were educated in non-profit, private schools.

MPS' official position is that MPCP growth will cause a significant adverse impact on district finances. This has not yet been borne out by actual experience.

For example, as Figure 1 shows, MPCP participation grew from 337 in 1990-91 to 1,499 in 1997-98. In addition, between 1992 and last year, PAVE scholarships more than doubled, to about 4,400. Without the MPCP and PAVE programs, the substantial majority of these students likely would have attended MPS. But has the enrollment of these students in private schools "drained" resources from MPS, as choice opponents suggest? MPS' own data do not demonstrate that this has occurred. Specifically:

• Real spending for school operations ($1998$) grew from $629 million to $735 million; state aid to MPS in these years grew from $371 million to $552 million.

• After adjusting these overall totals for changes in enrollment, Figure 5 shows that real per pupil spending and state aid also grew.

Figure 5. MPS spending and state aid during the expansion of school choice ($1998$)

Two principal factors explain the growth in spending and state aid. First, the state has approved a substantial increase in overall aid to local schools in Wisconsin. Second, when MPS — or any state district — loses enrollment, the state provides districts with several years of aid and spending flexibility to adjust.

In the final analysis, the state's financing of the MPCP program does not fundamentally differ from the "dollars follow the student" approach that Wisconsin has used for decades. Under this system, any student moving out of a district eventually will cause a net reduction in that district's state aid and a corresponding increase in the student's new district.

In 1985, a task force appointed by Wisconsin's Governor and Superintendent of Public Instruction found an "unacceptable disparity [in Milwaukee] in educational opportunity and achievement between poor and minority children...and non-poor and white children..." Milwaukee's school choice movement gained momentum from this report. In subsequent years, choice supporters strengthened their efforts in the face of continuing evidence of low academic achievement among MPS students.

The original MPCP. In 1989, State Rep. Annette "Polly" Williams, State Sen. Gary George, and Governor Tommy Thompson sponsored legislation which led to the 1990 enactment of the original MPCP. Several compromises in the final bill constrained the program's potential. For example:

A coalition for expanded school choice. In 1992, responding to limits in the original MPCP and substantial interest from parents seeking more educational options, a group of business and civic leaders started PAVE. It was created as a temporary program for low-income Milwaukee children until the state's program could be expanded to meet demand. Within two years, a broader coalition of parents, employers, and other civic leaders had formed to support a major expansion of the MPCP. The coalition included:

• Parents for School Choice, an organization of low-income Milwaukee parents;

• The Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce (MMAC), which includes about 2,500 of the region's largest employers;

• Local elected officials such as Mayor John Norquist and School Board member John Gardner;

• PAVE board members and other community leaders.

• The Wisconsin Assn. of Non-Public Schools (WANS), representing more than 100,000 students in private schools throughout the state.

In 1995, Governor Thompson proposed that thousands of additional children be allowed to participate and that they be allowed to choose sectarian as well as non-sectarian schools. After incorporating amendments submitted by Representative Williams, the Legislature approved Thompson's plan on June 29, 1995. On July 26, Governor Thompson signed the expansion into law. Within three weeks, about 100 schools expressed interest in participating and more than 2,000 new students had enrolled.

However, on August 25, 1995, the Supreme Court enjoined all aspects of the expanded program. Many students already had started class; others had enrolled and were about to start. By mid-September, a community fundraising effort produced about $2 million, enabling PAVE to provide scholarships to almost all students who had applied at sectarian schools under the expanded program. Again in 1996 and 1997 — while the injunction remained in effect — PAVE provided scholarships to students who otherwise would have been eligible for school choice under the 1995 expansion.

Growth in participating schools. The number of non-sectarian schools in the MPCP has grown from seven in 1990-91 to twenty-three in 1997-98. Eight additional non-sectarian schools have expressed an interest in accepting students in 1998-99. Between 1990 and 1996, DPI required three schools to leave the program. One was terminated in the program's first year for operational deficiencies. The other two were terminated in 1995-96 for financial irregularities and discrepancies in student enrollment and eligibility.

Milwaukee voters have elected three supporters of tax-supported private school choice to the nine-member MPS School Board. They include Gardner, the sole board member elected on a citywide basis; Warren Braun, a former Democratic state senator; and Bruce Thompson, an engineering professor. Gardner and Braun were elected in 1995. Thompson was elected in 1997. Each defeated candidates who opposed private school choice. In addition, the city's Democratic mayor, John O. Norquist, is a strong supporter of private school choice.

Independent surveys also suggest growing public approval for tax-supported school choice programs involving private schools.

• A random survey conducted for Milwaukee's Public Policy Forum in 1997 found that "a great majority. . .support school choice." The survey, part of a larger study on choice and accountability, found that 83% of respondents "believe that religious schools should be allowed to participate" and about 75% "believe the current school choice programs [in Wisconsin and Ohio] should be expanded to include all school districts in [each] state."

• A random survey of 1,000 African-American Milwaukee adults, conducted in 1995 for the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute, found that "71% favor expansion of the [MPCP] to include parochial schools..."

• Nationally, a 1997 Gallup Poll found that 55% of respondents favored tax support of education and private and religious schools. A different national survey, conducted in 1997 for the Joint Center on Political and Economic Studies, found that support for private school vouchers among African-Americans was at 57%, compared with 48% in 1996.

A 1995 editorial in The Wisconsin State Journal noted that a number of programs let parents and students use tax support for private educational organizations. Responding to legal efforts to block the expanded MPCP, the paper asked:

...If it's unconstitutional to give state vouchers to parents who want their children to attend religious schools, then how about government grants to [parents whose children attend] religious pre-schools and day care centers? What about government money that goes to [students who attend] universities through Pell grants, the G.I. Bill and student loans?

The extent of these existing programs is considerable. In 1993, more than 30 programs provided tax dollars that Wisconsin residents could use to buy education and early childhood programming from private organizations. About 400 private service providers received tax support through parent or student choice, including church-affiliated schools, colleges, and universities. About $164 million a year in public funds was granted or loaned to about 78,000 Wisconsin residents through these programs.