Funding school choice

At a candidates' forum this last week MPS board president Peter Blewett suggested that funding of school choice should be changed so that choice students should be included in the MPS count for figuring state aid. While he is right, his support probably comes too late to help Milwaukee taxpayers.

Some years ago I became convinced that the state funding formula for choice schools was unfair to Milwaukee taxpayers. By not including choice students in the overall count, it made Milwaukee’s financial resources per student look stronger than they really were. After considerable resistance, the choice coalition finally agreed that the fairest solution would treat those students as if they attended MPS. Once convinced, the coalition went to work and convinced the Republican leadership in the legislature to support this change.

Unfortunately this change died when none of the Democrats on the Joint Finance Committee–including those from Milwaukee–supported it. Much of the opposition seemed to stem from fear that including choice students in the MPS count would offer legitimacy to the choice schools. As became clear later some of the Democrats also hoped to defeat Republicans by charging them with favoring Milwaukee. This vote happened early in Blewett's term on the MPS board. Perhaps his involvement in support of the funding change--along with other opponents of school choice--might have changed a vote or two, saving the proposal.

In essence, Milwaukee Democrats voted to raise their constituents’ tax burden in order to thumb their noses at choice schools. I suspect the Democrats' lack of support for Milwaukee, combined with the later attempt to capitalize on the Republicans' vote, would make it very hard to enlist Republican support for a similar measure today. Sometimes, there is a window that closes if the opportunity is not seized.

Too often, the battle about school choice becomes an end in itself. People forget that the children involved are some of the neediest in Wisconsin. And Milwaukee taxpayers are not well served by this obsession.