So this is what Democrats do when they're in charge: They try to kill a program visibly benefiting thousands of needy schoolchildren in Milwaukee.

State Senate Democratic leader Chuck Chvala protests that the death of school choice is not the goal of a proposal to slice in half the value of vouchers indigent parents use to pay for tuition at private schools here. The private sector would pick up the slack, he predicts. In other words, he's committing other people's money without asking - not exactly currency needy parents can take to the bank. In truth, the cutback promises to eviscerate the Milwaukee voucher program, the nation's leading experiment in school choice.

The proposal by the controlling Senate Democrats adds confusion to the lives of thousands of families already stressed by poverty. Parents who have picked schools for September now face the prospect of frantically searching anew on behalf of their children.

At her party's caucus, Sen. Gwen Moore, a Milwaukee Democrat, accused choice advocates of not caring that the program "maims, cripples and kills" the Milwaukee Public Schools. She thus demonstrates how choice has become a fall guy for tight budgets within MPS.

The eradication of choice, however, won't necessarily ease the school system's money woes. In fact, it could worsen them by increasing costs - the result of thousands of students returning to public schools. But if choice is indeed leading to a drop in per-pupil funds for MPS, Moore and other lawmakers have it within their power to fix that problem without gutting the program.

We had opposed the expansion of choice to religious schools because we thought it would intermingle church and state too much. But the Wisconsin Supreme Court disagreed. Now that the expansion has proceeded apace, we oppose the voucher program's premature end because of its proven virtues. It has furthered equity by giving poor parents school options similar to what more prosperous parents enjoy. It has delivered a decent education to many needy children who were previously having trouble getting one. And it has strengthened reform within MPS.

Not so long ago, the teachers union regarded reform proposals only as bargaining chips. The union's No. 1 goal had little to do with kids; it was to win the right of teachers to live in the suburbs. Choice helped put in power the union's progressive wing, which has embraced reforms. For instance, the union did the unthinkable and agreed to ease the seniority rule, permitting schools some leeway to choose their own staffs.

Some of the Democratic proposals on choice may be apt. Voucher schools do need more accountability. But halving the worth of vouchers is a cruel ploy, which the Senate or the Assembly or the governor - preferably all three - must reject.