1.15.2003

Checker Finn begins "Reforming Education: The Hard Part Lies Ahead," (The Education Gadfly, January 9, 2003) by observing, "&[B]y and large we haven't yet caused many people or institutions to alter their ways." Later, he applies this reasoning - not much has changed - to an assessment of the voucher movement:

"The evidence," he writes, "suggests that helping disadvantaged black children switch from bad public schools to decent private schools yields a rise in their achievement. But it doesn't seem to do much for poor white and Latino youngsters. In any case, there aren't enough private schools to go around and it's uneconomic to build more unless the vouchers are amply funded. Education's private sector has not shown a lot of entrepreneurial energy, either. Moreover, if one thinks the politics of other school reforms are daunting, gaze upon the voucher battlefield. The unions and their allies will fight this one to the death - and few political leaders have the guts to defy them."

This gloomy account ignores evidence from Milwaukee, home of the nation's oldest and largest voucher program.

  • Separate research by Harvard's Caroline M. Hoxby and the Manhattan Institute's Jay Greene show a causal relationship between competition from private schools and gains in academic achievement among students in the Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS).
  • Using MPS data, school board member John Gardner and the American Education Reform Council (AERC) separately show that the district's high school graduation rate has increased since the advent of vouchers. Further, during the most rapid period of voucher expansion, MPS scores on standardized tests are up compared to a national sample.
  • Partially in response to vouchers, MPS has injected its budget process with a heavy dose of "dollars follow students." The result? A highly discernible effort by MPS schools to involve parents, to recruit parents, and to be more responsive to their interests.
  • In yet another major effort to make its schools more successful, MPS and its union effectively have bargained away the use of seniority to fill teacher vacancies. This occurred precisely at the time that competition from voucher and charter schools was heating up.
  • AERC shortly will report on a capital infusion approaching $100 million at no less than 65 Milwaukee private schools. This is in direct response to the expanded voucher and charter laws that Wisconsin's legislature has approved.
  • As for academic achievement, AERC is seeking legislation authorizing an independent longitudinal study of Milwaukee's voucher program. One of many issues to be addressed would be whether academic gains identified in early research (by Princeton's Cecilia Rouse and Harvard's Paul Peterson) have continued to occur.
  • Wisconsin's Governor and legislature had the guts in 2001 and 2002 to kill repeated efforts by voucher opponents to gut Milwaukee's choice program. In the November 2002 elections, voucher opponents lost control of the Wisconsin Senate and a new Governor - Democrat Jim Doyle - publicly has opposed more attacks on the Milwaukee program. A majority of the elected MPS school board favors school choice, as does the district's newly selected superintendent.

    Apart from being wrong on the facts, Finn applies a disappointing and cynical calculation of school choice prospects. Essentially, he concludes that unions don't like it so let's throw in the towel. An alternative approach would be to cite Milwaukee as a place where choice is widespread and positive change is taking place.

    George Mitchell of Milwaukee administers The Fund for Choices in Education, a Wisconsin political conduit that supports candidates who favor expanded educational options