I will address in separate posts some of what I see happening to K-12 education by Governor Walker's proposed budget bill . I need to preface what I say by stating that I have no experience in school finance and operations. I have simply tracked down information from state (DPI & DOA) and federal (Census Bureau) websites, and trusted that I am still able to understand the Queen's English, and count on all ten fingers and ten toes. I believe that one effect of the changes to the Milwaukee School Choice program will be to expand it substantially, thus reducing the available funding for public education in Milwaukee, and reducing the number of those pesky greedy public school teachers that the GOP seeks to marginalize because they overwhelmingly vote Democratic in elections.
Here is my take on the expansion of the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program the Governor's budget summary describes:
1. Under current law, the enrollment in the Milwaukee School Choice Program is only open to:
a. A child from a household with adjusted gross income (AGI) on a federal income tax return of 175% of the Federal poverty level, or 220% of the Federal poverty level if two or more children from a family participate. Assuming the family includes a mother, father and three K-12 age children, two or more of whom participate, the family’s AGI income limit is over $57,000. The median family income in Wisconsin in 2010, according to the U.S.Census, is about $73,318, this is a number before adjusting downward to AGI. (So presumably, right now, the program is open to the average middle-class family living in the City of Milwaukee.)
b. A participating child must reside in the City of Milwaukee.
c. There is a cap of participants currently at 22,500 students max.
2. Under the Governor’s proposal:
a. The income limitation will be gradually “phased out.” I can find no explanation as yet as to how this will be done. Given the rest of what I will describe, that may not be too important.
b. In 2011-2012, a child from a family with a family income of less than 325% of the federal poverty level can only be charged what the state will pay by state check issued for endorsement over to the participating school. For 2010-2011, this was $6,442. Clearly that is a dollar figure substantially smaller than what most if not all public schools spend per pupil on education annually.
c. In 2011-2012, a child from a family with a family income of greater than 325% of the federal poverty level can be charged what the school chooses to charge, and the state check will simply supplement the the school's existing tuition for the student.
d. The restriction on residence in the City of Milwaukee would stay in place for now.
e. The maximum 22,500 student cap would disappear.
f. The available choice schools could be located anywhere in Milwaukee County, rather than restricted to the City of Milwaukee as is the present case.
g. The choice schools could opt out of the Wisconsin Knowledge and Concepts (WKCE) Test that all public school children take in select grades, and substitute any “nationally-normed test.” Whatever in the hell that means. What it may mean is that there will be no apples to apples comparisons between Milwaukee public schools and private “Choice” schools. And since many of the choice schools will be free to make the case that because of their size, they will not offer special education to inner-city applicants, they can cherry-pick students without such needs, thereby enhancing their likelihood of having higher test scores than Milwaukee public schools anyway.
3. Overall Effect:
a. The federal poverty level in 2011 for a family of five, mother, father and three K-12 age children, is $26,170. 325% of this amount is almost $85,000.
b. Family A, a family of five, mother, father and three K-12 age children would be entitled have their children participate with a family AGI of $85,000 at no cost to the family, assuming they could find a school or schools willing to take the children.
c. Family B, a family with an AGI of $300,000, living in Milwaukee, could send their children to Parochial/Private schools and have each child's tuition supplemented by $6,442 a year or more, and then the school could charge the balance of the standard tuition less the State's check.
d. Which family, Family A or Family B, will be more attractive to a parochial/private school? Perhaps there will be a strict requirement for a lottery for available seats, however? Supposedly that is happening now, subject to special needs children being rejected from the lottery because of the lack of available programs at a particular school, where the school can justify the lack by its size.
e. I have no idea where the money will come from for the expansion of the school choice program, as yet I can't find the line item in the budget documents currently available on the DOA website. But wherever it comes from and whatever amount it is, it will represent an increase in State aid for parochial schools in Wisconsin, many of which have been experiencing declining enrollments, at a time when the Governor proposes to substantially cut back on funding for public schools.
If this goes through, can expansion of the program to other areas of the state be far behind?
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