Walker Lauded for Education Privatization in D.C.
But voucher proponent Howard Fuller criticizes Walker's expansion plans
The governor said he was “blessed” to have been able to vote for vouchers while he served in the state Legislature in the early 1990s, and linked the program to job growth during that decade.
“When you make a commitment to true education reform, it helps your state's economy,” Walker told the Washington, D.C., crowd after dinner and drinks.
Although the voucher program has grown steadily through the years, Walker is proposing radical changes that would end its original intent to use taxpayer dollars to subsidize the tuition of low-income students at private schools, primarily religious or church-based schools.
Even Howard Fuller, the voucher program architect who received the John T. Walton Champions for School Choice award at the Monday event, criticized Walker's attempt to provide vouchers to students from wealthy families.
Walker is asking in his budget to phase out income eligibility requirements for vouchers, which ultimately would allow wealthy families to use a voucher to send their children to private schools. That move has been roundly criticized by Milwaukee leaders—including former state Rep. Annette “Polly” Williams, who promoted the original voucher program while she served in the state Assembly—as well as Fuller.
“I appreciate what the governor had to say and I understand the importance of the middle class,” Fuller told the group minutes after Walker's speech. “But I just want to say to you all, as clearly as I can, that the poorest people in our society are the ones who need the help the most. And at no point in time—I don't care how politically fashionable it becomes: I will never give up raising a voice for the poorest parents.”
American Federation for Children has a long history in Wisconsin politics and continues to be actively involved in campaigns. The pro-voucher group and its offshoot, All Children Matter, are headed by Betsy DeVos, who is married to the billionaire heir to the Amway fortune and is a contributor to Republicans who support their extreme pro-free-market agenda.
The organizations have spent an estimated $3.5 million in Wisconsin races since 2004, according to numbers compiled by the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, and they are supporting Republican senators who could be recalled, along with a lone Democrat—Milwaukee state Sen. Lena Taylor.
Former Republican Assembly leader Scott Jensen is American Federation for Children's senior adviser.
On Tuesday, legislative Democrats decried the amount of money voucher supporters are pouring into the state, arguing that legislators are promoting vouchers over the objections of state residents who don't support state subsidies for private education.
Lifting the Cap and More
As governor, Walker has proposed eliminating the cap on the number of students in the Milwaukee voucher program and expanding it beyond the city limits. On Monday night he promised that Beloit, Racine and Green Bay would have voucher programs as well. However, in his speech and in his budget, Walker failed to address the program's funding flaw, which penalizes local property taxpayers, who are forced to support dueling school districts—the public school district and the voucher schools. If Walker's voucher program is replicated in other cities or counties, those property taxpayers will be penalized by the funding flaw as well.
Walker has also proposed ending the accountability measures, created at long last by Democrats in the previous legislative session, which require voucher schools to take a state-administered test and have those test results released publicly. He told the crowd that he wanted to grade the schools, but not with “one big test.”
The first test results were released earlier this year, showing that voucher schools aren't performing any better than Milwaukee Public Schools, a finding that largely has been confirmed by University of Arkansas researchers in their longitudinal study of the program. Walker, however, failed to mention the comparable test scores during his talk, instead focusing on voucher schools' higher graduation rates. He said voucher schools were doing something “magical” to create those results.
Perhaps he is right about the magic, since there are not uniform benchmarks for a high-school diploma at these voucher schools. A wave of the magic wand and, voilà: a bunch of high-school graduates.
I think we all know the voucher schools do better, regardless of what some liberal think tank says. I think their was wide spread cheating on standarized testing. Most likley they only tested kids show up to school and not all the students at MPS. I'm sure some kids were encouraged to stay home on test day. I've not read anything anywhere on how much MPS spend on cheating detection services. My guess is zero.
I see, so when faced with facts, you rightards just deny them.
There are no facts to face. Bottom like is parents want choice. Lets give it to them. MPS really isn't so good at teaching the more motivated students nor catering to the more motivated parents.
Both systems are in trouble. This article has a humerous and somewhat accurate ending, "a wave of the magical wand and, voila...". Some Choice schools struggle to even gather proper teaching materials, let alone teach towards standards. No uniform benchmarks- thats like trying to teach without lesson plans- a recipe for disaster. I would be interested in what U of Ark. is finding in their studies... What needs to be published is what one sees walking into a school unannounced.
I heard an interesting comment from a student who has gone from public school to private school. He said his first year of private school he never opened a book. Public school was a year ahead of the private school. Told me the teachers were better in public school and they were more qualified. Private school they had no requirements and were paid very little, which I think is true. The upside to private school is you were surrounded by good kids, well behaved kids, and all the parents had good connections. You could always get a good job, get a traffic ticket fixed, or get needed help by having the parental connections through school. So in the long run, private school was the place to be.
While the public school had better teachers, the downside was having to go to school with poor kids from bad homes. Plus having the stigma of being a public school student. In the poor rural south community he lives in, the "white folk" will label you as white trash if you go to public school.
Interesting comments. I suppose the best case scenario would be to get better teachers into private school, get your kids into private school, and have the government help pay for it.
The comparison by the southern student about private school being a year behind public school, the private teachers less qualified and lower paid, rings true here in Wisconsin as well. I had noticed the same difference in the 60's when I was moved from a catholic school to public school in a Madison suburb. Reinforced again in the 90's when checking out schools for my children when I was in Janesville.
However, I do not agree with the comment about better behaved students in private school. In the so called white areas of Wisconsin, it seemed to be exactly the opposite. As if the "privileged" figured they could get away with more. That's due to their "connections". (BTW - the effective definition of a "gentleman" is that he is well off enough to buy his way out of his indiscretions. Why else are those places called "Gentlemen's Clubs"?)
The cost reduction is the entire point of Walker's efforts. At least so he publicly says. The elephant in the room is the teachers union and their political campaign donations to democrats. Once Wisconsin democrats can no longer afford the media campaign, then the state will become solidly red on the legislature rolls, won't matter if the polls say our people are blue.
The other issue that the "motivated parents" want fixed is the one of "indoctrination", politically, environmentally, civics, and socially. Right wing parents want a right wing indoctrination instead, or at least the absence of left-wing teachings. Also important to some is the religious side, the evolution vs creation thing. Both of these are where some want to return to the "3 R's" of "Readin', 'Ritin', and 'Rithmetic" (Jethro of Beverly Hillbillies' "cypherin'"). Keeps out the science and history, no mention of union labor struggles, anti-trust and monopoly, global warming, balance of nature, peak oil, "comparative religion"; comparison of capitalism, socialism, communism, marxism; etc.
The evolution versus creation thing, I have never met anyone who considers that to be a problem, it still does not affect their decision making in day to day life, does not affect their choices of what to spend their money on, or how to vote.
I listened to my friend because he 1) he has made the decision to be a millionaire, 2) he is on his local school board). He told me his district is still short of finding teachers but the local private school, they have plenty people wanting to teach at half the pay, just because its a private school without a lot of jerk students and parents. He is totally against vouchers because the last they they want is poor kids coming into the private school where his kids go. The school is pretty much all white except for a few elite blacks who's parents have money. As long as they have money, they are welcome. Its an interesting southern town from the 50s in many ways. Wealthy white men drive around town running stop signs, red lights, speeding, and drunk driving with impuntity. I asked my friend if he was afraid of getting a ticket and he just pulled out his deputy sheriff badge and laughed. To a northerner, it was a bit appauling, even to me, but the system works for them.