The number of schools participating in the city's voucher program could jump by close to 20 this fall. But at the same time, the focus of one local group that supports vouchers will shift from opening new schools to strengthening existing ones.

The state's Department of Public Instruction said on Friday that between 17 and 20 new schools could join the program this fall. Final approval is pending for three schools until the department receives word from the city that the schools have occupancy permits for their buildings. That number is down significantly from the 50 or so that applied in the winter, but is larger than the number of new schools that joined last fall.

"Personally, I wonder whether there are enough children that are going to these schools, or they will be competing for students," said Tony Evers, the deputy state superintendent. He said some of the 54 schools that applied in the winter voluntarily decided not to open, while others did not meet the stiffer administrative and financial requirements in place since last year. Because enrollment in the program is approaching the state-imposed cap of about 14,800 students, enrollment of new students will essentially stop in mid-September, according to Evers, although no long-term solution to the cap issue has been worked out.

The new schools opening include Northside High School, whose founder is Ricardo Brooks. Brooks was an administrator at Academic Solutions Center for Learning, a school that closed this winter after a large fight broke out on campus. No one answered the phone at the number listed for Brooks and Northside. The address is listed at 2704 N. 50th St.

Milwaukee Lutheran High School, a long-established school, will also join the voucher program.

The only school from last year that will not open again is Learning Enterprise, as far as state officials know. Two other programs associated with the high school closed this winter after the founder of the schools, Kathy Harrell-Patterson, died, and it became clear in subsequent weeks the school was short of cash.

Troubled schools to reopen

But other troubled schools appear poised to reopen. Those include two schools that state officials say will face "ongoing scrutiny" because of financial problems last year. The schools are Harambee Community School and the L.E.A.D.E.R. Institute, according to Evers. Harambee is a pioneer in the voucher program that has had continued financial and administrative problems in recent years. L.E.A.D.E.R. opened last fall, and was one of nine schools that would not allow a reporter to visit in preparation for a recent Journal Sentinel series on schools in the voucher program.

Evers said it will be hard to know until fall whether other schools besides Learning Enterprise will close. "That's the point where the rubber will hit the road, and they will have to have their financial house in order," he said, adding that the state has very little muscle to use against schools with weak academic programs or unqualified teachers. "Our ability to monitor and hold schools accountable for issues related to the curriculum is really limited at private schools," he said.

While the number of new schools joining the program continues to climb, officials at Marquette University's Institute for the Transformation of Learning have backed away from helping to start new schools. In the past, the institute has acted as an incubator for charter and voucher schools hoping to open.

But it will scale back that mission considerably and focus on working to strengthen existing schools. "We only have so many dollars and so much time," said Howard Fuller, the institute's director and a leading proponent of vouchers. "What's really critical now is we've got to focus on improving the overall quality of all the schools."

Fuller added that the institute would like to find a way to "take over the back office functions for some of these schools," including helping them with purchasing and human resources. That way "we could take some of the pressure off really small schools so they can really focus on instruction," he said.

Robert Pavlik, the director of school design and development at the institute, said staff will still meet for a couple of hours with individuals or groups interested in opening new schools but will offer no further support. "We do feel that we need to work on improving the quality of existing schools because the infrastructures are not always in place to support the kind of academic excellence we need," Pavlik said, arguing that the same is true of some public schools.

Tighter rules sought

Officials at School Choice Wisconsin, a voucher advocacy group, said they will testify in favor of permanent new rules that will tighten the Department of Public Instruction's administrative and financial oversight of the program during a hearing in Madison on Wednesday.

The rules have been used to shut five schools out of the program so far: Medgar Evers, Mandella School of Science and Math, Alex's Academics of Excellence, Academic Solutions Center for Learning and Louis Tucker Academy.

Evers said he hopes that when the rules are formalized, they will include a "bad actor" provision that makes it difficult for administrators who have operated failed schools to open new ones.