Troubled Voucher School Illustrates Program's Serious Flaws

Milwaukee's children are being victimized by a bad law that allows the existence of so-called schools such as "Alex's Academics of Excellence," WEAC President Stan Johnson said Thursday (September 4, 2003).

The Milwaukee private school voucher law, sometimes called the "school choice" law, allows operators of facilities such as Alex's to drain public funds away from public schools and use them in questionable ways with little or no accountability, Johnson said.

Johnson was speaking in response to an article published Thursday by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that the troubled voucher school was poised to reopen this fall "if it can find a home." According to the article by reporter Sarah Carr, all that stands in the way of the school receiving up to $5,882 in public funds for each of those students is an occupancy permit from the city.

"The operators of this so-called school have rounded up 49 unsuspecting young people who are ready to attend this facility, expecting to get a quality education," Johnson said. "But they have no place to go. And if they do find a facility, there is no evidence that the school is prepared to provide any kind of education whatsoever, much less a quality one.

"Here we are at the start of the school year ready to hand over state money to a facility that does not even exist, with 49 children who have no building to attend to get the education that our constitution guarantees for them," Johnson said.

"The money that this virtually nonexistent school is pilfering from the state could be used productively in cash-strapped Milwaukee Public Schools to better educate the city's children. That is money that could be used in a system that is thoroughly monitored and fully accountable for the money it spends," Johnson said. "It could be used in our public school system to help create a great school for every child.

"Instead, it is being squandered because of this irresponsible and illogical school voucher law that encourages waste, lacks accountability and has the potential to greatly harm the very children it is purportedly designed to help," he said.

Alex's Academics of Excellence has a history of troubles and was evicted from its location last year for failure to pay rent even though it has received $2.8 million in payments from the state.

According to the Journal-Sentinel, two former administrators at Alex's have accused James A. Mitchell, the school's chief executive officer (a convicted rapist) "of financial mismanagement and allowing employees to carry and use marijuana and cocaine while at the school."

The article states: "In spring of this year, the district attorney's office briefly investigated finances at the school after a $111,338 check to the state bounced. Teachers, meanwhile, complained that they were not paid on time - if at all. And this summer, two former administrators alleged they had seen repeated use of illegal drugs by employees."

DPI officials say there is nothing they can do as long as the school meets the very loose requirements of the voucher law.

"It is an outrage that this state has a law that paves the way for this to happen," Johnson said. "While, granted, most voucher schools are more responsible than Alex's Academics of Excellence, questions have also been raised about other voucher schools over the years.

"Perhaps Alex's is just the tip of the iceberg. We know about Alex's because of its blatantly questionable practices and history. But we really don't know what's happening in other voucher schools, since there is virtually no accountability.

"At a time when the state and federal governments are going to extremes to demand accountability from our public schools, it is a travesty to allow private schools such as Alex's to take large amounts of public tax dollars and do whatever they want with it.

"This law encourages these behaviors, victimizes the taxpayer and, most importantly, leaves many children out in the cold."

Posted September 4, 2003