Foes of the school voucher program in Milwaukee said it would spell the death of public education. But guess what? Since the advent of choice, the vital signs of the Milwaukee Public Schools have grown stronger, not weaker.
A choice backer, Milwaukee School Board member John Gardner, makes that case in a report released Monday. Contrary to the dire predictions, the trend lines have been heading upward for enrollment, state aid, the total budget and academic performance in MPS, Gardner notes in the report.

As if to underscore the point, the School Board recently got - for the first time - an optimistic report on its policy of ending social promotion from middle school to high school. The share of ninth-graders making it to the next level has risen markedly.

Gardner argues - and we concur - that many of the improvements in MPS came about in part because of the controversial policy of applying public funds to tuition at private schools for low-income students, not despite the policy. In fact, the link between school choice and MPS improvement seems so obvious that its denial strikes us as reflecting a stubborn unwillingness to concede that anything good can come from vouchers.

A recognition of the link does not belittle the vital role reformers play within MPS. It's just that the competition strengthens their hands. The change within the Milwaukee Teachers' Education Association is a prime example. The union used to oppose reform proposals at virtually every turn. But the expansion of choice helped to empower the progressive wing of the MTEA. As a result, the union has become much more open-minded about reform, even bending on its strict requirement of filling vacancies on the basis of seniority.

Of course, with its low graduation rates, MPS is nowhere near where it ought to be, as Gardner notes. But choice has put the school system closer to where it ought to be than it would be otherwise.