Once again, the reigning Democrats in the state Senate are shamefully seeking to crush a program that's meeting the educational needs of thousands of poor kids in Milwaukee. Incredibly, no Milwaukee Democrat - except gubernatorial candidate Gary George, at the last minute - stood up to this legislative mugging, which would reduce by millions the amount of state aid coming into the city and bring havoc to thousands of families struggling here to make ends meet.
The proposal, part of the Senate's budget-repair bill, is to take away $23 million from the school choice program here and scatter it among the public schools statewide. As consolation, the Milwaukee Public Schools would get an additional lump sum of $8 million in aid. Well, thanks for nothing.

You do the math: $23 million minus $8 million is, right, $15 million - the amount of aid that would no longer come into the city, offset by whatever chump change MPS would get as its share of the $23 million to be circulated about the state. Why weren't Milwaukee's lawmakers screaming?

What's more, due to the complexities of the state's school aid formula and the sort of budget juggling the Democrats approved, MPS can't be certain right now whether it would really gain. On top of that, the savings to the state are a mirage. The cutback is so steep that it spells doom for the program, promising to send hundreds of kids back to MPS - a development that would step up state aid to the district.

The Senate Democrats must learn to give their antipathy for the choice program a rest. They lost the fight. The program's here and visibly doing good - giving low-income parents an educational choice similar to what better-off parents enjoy. The program's also spurring MPS to improve. Gutting the program now would only make life more miserable for poor families and rid MPS of a prod to reform.