School Voucher Bill OK'd Despite Lack of Accountability

The State Senate Tuesday (September 30, 2003) gave final legislative approval to a bill requiring a long-term study of Milwaukee's private school voucher program, despite arguments that the bill fails to require voucher schools to be adequately accountable for the tax money they spend.

The measure now goes to Governor Doyle.

Under the bill, an initial report would be due to the Legislature by October 1, 2005. The study would be funded by private donors.

Opponents said the bill is weak because it allows individual voucher schools to opt out of the study and because it fails to require voucher schools to administer the same tests as public schools.

WEAC circulated a position paper to legislators opposing the bill because of its lack of accountability.

"The Wisconsin Education Association Council has always believed the Milwaukee Parental School Choice Program should be accountable to the state’s taxpayers as well as parents and the community. That accountability should be the same that is required of every other taxpayer-funded school. AB126 is one step in the direction of accountability but falls short of specific accountability measures. Because AB126 fails to hold Milwaukee voucher schools accountable to the taxpayers of Wisconsin, WEAC proposes that all voucher schools participate in the same state-level testing that is required of other publicly funded schools. The comparisons should be 'apples to apples'comparisons," the paper states.

WEAC went on to say that voucher schools should be required to:

Test students at grades 4, 8, and 10, using the Wisconsin Knowledge and Concepts Examination in reading/language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies until 2005-06.
Test students using the state’s Third Grade Reading Comprehension Test until 2005-06.
Test students annually in math and reading in grades 3 through 8, and at least once in grades 10 through 12 starting in 2005-06 as mandated by the federal government’s Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) or No Child Left Behind Act.
Test students in science at least once in grades 3 through 5, once in grades 6 through 8 and once in grades 10 through 12 starting in 2007-08 as mandated by ESEA.

WEAC also said voucher schools should be required to adhere to the same ESEA guidelines as other publicly funded schools: test 95% of students, report the test scores to parents on a school report card, make the results of testing public, employ only “highly qualified” teachers, employ only “highly qualified” paraprofessionals for instructional work, and meet the requirements of Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP).

In addition, voucher schools should be required to:

Process background checks on teachers.
Employ a certified reading specialist, and develop reading programs with annual evaluations.
Adopt a written policy for promotion from 4th and 8th grades, including WKCE exams as part of promotion criteria.

"The Wisconsin Education Association Council believes that if true accountability is to exist in the Milwaukee voucher schools – accountability so that parents can make a truly informed choice of schools – accountability standards for voucher schools and public schools must be identical," the WEAC paper states.

In related legislative action:

The State Assembly Wednesday (October 1, 2003) approved a bill that would eliminate the cap on the number of participants in the Milwaukee private school voucher program. The limit currently is 15% of the enrollment in Milwaukee Public Schools, or about 15,000 students. The bill would also allow students to stay in the voucher program even if their household income rose above the limit for participation ($32,000 for a family of four).
The Assembly passed a bill to allow any private school in Milwaukee County to participate in the voucher program. Currently, only private schools in the city may participate.
The Senate sent its own versions of those two bills (to remove the enrollment cap and expand the program countywide) to the Joint Finance Committee for further review.

Request for greater voucher accountability

Also this week, State Superintendent Elizabeth Burmaster said she believes "expanded regulatory authority (over voucher schools) is warranted." Her comment was made in a letter to Sens. Michael Ellis (R-Neenah) and Robert Jauch (D-Poplar), who had asked Burmaster to explain the extent to which the Department of Public Instruction can regulate voucher schools and monitor the spending of tax money by those schools. Their request was made in light of newspaper articles about problems surrounding a Milwaukee voucher school, Alex's Academics of Excellence.

Burmaster said there is very little accountability because when the voucher law was written, "there was an intent to limit the department ’s regulation of private schools participating in the program."

Burmaster requested the following measures to "protect children and provide a quality control mechanism for the program."

Student health, safety, and welfare protection measures:

Require background checks of all adults interested in working at (voucher) schools and prohibit any adult charged with a crime listed under sec.115.31(2g), Wis. Stat., from working in a (voucher) school.
Require all schools, annually by August 1, to submit copies of certificates of occupancy for all school buildings.

Fiscal and administrative accountability measures:

Develop an accreditation system that would:
- Require that new schools submit a business plan that will help ascertain the financial viability of the school.
- Require that all schools submit a financial audit report conducted on behalf of the school by an independent CPA instead of the currently required financial information report.
- Require schools to demonstrate financial viability through the receipt of tuition revenues.
- Clarify the penalties for schools failing to meet program requirements, including delaying payments until the next quarterly payment.
- Clarify the standard by which repeated failures to comply with program requirements becomes so detrimental and severe that schools would be removed from the program.

Posted October 2, 2003

Resource page on private school vouchers