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January 2006
By Mikel Holt
School choice - in its most basal form - is a civil rights issue.
It is a byproduct of a three-decade-long battle to secure quality educational opportunities and equal access for Milwaukee's low-income and minority students.
Some suggest the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program is a sledgehammer used to tear down the walls of educational apartheid.
They are correct in that assessment.
Those black, white and brown parents, civic leaders and politicians who met nearly 20 years ago to discuss school choice legislation with State Rep. Annette (Polly) Williams, expressly noted parallel goals for the initiative:
• To offer opportunities to low-income citizens disenchanted with the offerings of the public school system.
• To prompt greater accountability and reform within Milwaukee Public Schools.
Six months prior, MPS Superintendent Robert S. Peterkin had met with some of these same individuals, seeking their support for a similar school choice bill, one he believed would be the catalyst for a "system of schools" to replace a monopoly system that was failing most black children.
Peterkin recognized that options are a valuable tool in the educational arena and that research showed that some black children excelled in private school settings who would otherwise fail in a more traditional environment.
It was to the community's benefit to create an environment of cooperation among public and private schools and to share, when possible, resources and expertise.
Who would have thought that the meeting with Williams would be the catalyst for a revolution that has shaken the very foundation of the American educational system?
Who could have envisioned the choice program growing from a half-dozen schools and a few hundred students to more than 100 schools and nearly 15,000 participants?
And who would have thought that after millions of dollars earmarked by opponents of school choice to derail the program, a half-dozen court challenges and a score of studies attesting to the program's worth and success, the program would remain such a controversial and apparently divisive initiative?
And who would have believed that the pioneer program now faces a new hurdle, its lifeblood being threatened by the unwillingness of the governor to a reasonable request to rise the enrollment cap?
Obviously, those who thought we had torn down the walls of educational apartheid in this city were delusional.
Those who believe the civil rights movement is over, that equality and justice are now entrenched, were wrong.
Living a pipe dream
Those who naively believed that at some point opponents of choice - the teachers union, the Democratic Party and missionary organizations - would put aside their biases and illogical opposition and join us on this freedom train were living a pipe dream.
As you read this, the school choice program is being threatened. Sides have formed, a line in the sand has been drawn and the rhetoric is flowing on both sides.
There is blood on our streets.
I have no illusions about my ability in a commentary to persuade opponents to alter their course, to climb aboard our freedom train.
A study that followed the release of my book "Not Free at Last," which chronicles the choice movement, showed that a majority of opponents are indeed swayed after learning the true history of school choice.
I don't have the opportunity to provide all of that history here. But I am hopeful those on the other side or those straddling the fence will understand our passion to lift the cap and to resolve the current conflict expeditiously.
Because we have reached the statutory cap on enrollment in the program, the state Department of Public Instruction has engineered a rationing program that will be implemented this fall.
It will essentially put a limit on the number of seats participating schools can provide.
That process, DPI officials admit, will mean a minimum of 4,000 students will be thrown out of the schools of their choice next fall.
That means schools like Messmer Catholic Schools (which has 400 families on a waiting list), St. Joan Antida and St. Marcus Lutheran, each of which have excellent records of achievement, will be forced to dismiss half their students.
But the losses and personal disruption to human lives doesn't end there. It is estimated that 20 to 30 schools would close as a direct result of the rationing plan, meaning that hundreds of teachers, cooks, janitors, bus drivers, security guards, secretaries and cleaning personnel will lose their jobs.
Moreover, school choice has generated more than $100 million in economic development, including nearly $14 million in construction projects last year alone.
Most of those projects carry mortgages or loans, some of which I suspect will not be repaid if the school is closed.
My greatest trepidation, however, is the very real probability that I, as a member of Messmer's board of directors, will soon have to participate in an emergency meeting to determine a rationing program and then will have to tell 200 to 400 children they can not return to Messmer next fall.
How do we tell students?
How do we tell them that their dreams and aspirations are to be shattered?
What do we say to stop the tears?
Will explaining that grown people in Madison can't find common ground to resolve a procedural problem that affects their well-being calm their fears?
Where do we tell them to go? They obviously won't be assigned to premiere MPS schools. Most won't be challenged academically; some will end up in environments deemed failing by the federal government or unsafe by MPS officials.
Can we tell them that they can attend the same schools that MPS teachers, who oppose the program, send their children?
Speaking of the teachers, or more accurately the union that represents them and has assumed a position posturing in front of our schoolhouse doors: The teachers union has just come out in support of legislation requiring that all MPS teachers send their children only to MPS schools.
Just kidding.
MPS teachers adamantly would oppose such legislation. And they'd be right.
MPS teachers value highly their ability to select either a public or private school for their children.
Data from the 2000 census show they regularly exercise their right to choose, with 29% of them enrolling children in a private elementary or high school. That compares with the national average of 12%.
Choice like teachers get
If school choice is so important to public school teachers, why can't they appreciate how valuable it is for low-income Milwaukee families?
Can't they see the double standard they set by opposing choice for low-income families while exercising it themselves?
The strong support of school choice by MPS teachers for their own children is longstanding.
The 1990 census showed that 30% used private schools. In a 1989 survey administered by the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, a staggering 62% of MPS teachers said they would not want their child to attend the school at which they teach.
The hypocrisy of the teachers union is evident once again in a new campaign launched last week, aimed at keeping a lid on the number of low-income families who can participate in the pioneering and highly successful parental choice program.
The union can't abide by the fact that parents of almost 15,000 children voluntarily have used the parental choice program to pick a school that is not part of MPS.
Many bogus complaints
The union campaign is loaded with its longstanding list of bogus complaints about the parental choice program. Yet many of these schools are the same ones that teachers use for their own children.
Schools in the program must follow all statutes that apply to other private schools in Wisconsin. Further, schools in the choice program must:
• Meet all health and safety laws or codes that apply to public schools.
• Comply with the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964.
• Follow uniform financial accounting standards established by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.
• File an independent financial audit conducted by a certified public accountant.
• Provide "evidence of sound fiscal practices" and "financial viability."
As a result of these requirements, six schools have been removed from the parental choice program, a kind of accountability virtually unheard of in public education.
More than 50 others have been blocked from joining the program in the past two years because they don't meet these state standards.
The union also complains that tax dollars that could be used to strengthen MPS are being diverted to voucher schools.
In fact, the impact on MPS spending of a student in the choice program is the same as it is for a child of an MPS teacher in private school.
In both cases, MPS does not get money for a child not enrolled in MPS. Are public school teachers diverting money from MPS?
And how has MPS done financially during the time that the parental choice program has existed?
According to the district's own data, between 1990 and 2006:
• Per-pupil spending, even after adjusting for inflation, is up 28%.
• State aid, also adjusted for inflation, is up more than 50%.
The MPS budget in 1990 was $500 million. The student enrollment was approximately 101,000 children.
Last week, MPS revealed that it is projecting enrollment of about 90,000 students. The budget this fall will be $1.2 billion. Yes, that's billion.
The net result is that taxpayer support of each MPS pupil equals $11,700. That compares with public support of $6,351 for a low-income student in the parental choice program.
I would never suggest MPS' budget is adequate. More resources are indeed needed.
But the truth is the MPS budget has more than doubled in the past 15 years, a period during which the black high school graduation rate dropped from 60% to 40%.
That's right, only four in 10 black students in MPS graduate.
Is it any wonder why parents would seek to put their children in Messmer High School, which has a 98% graduation rate, where 90% of its students - poor and black - go to college?
To top things off, the teachers union claims MPS offers the "significant advantage" of higher "quality."
Really? Not in the eyes of the 29% of MPS teachers who use private schools.
MPS has made gains
I don't dispute that MPS has schools with dedicated teachers who are serving students well. And it is notable that MPS has made gains in recent years, during a period of rapid growth in school choice.
At the lower grade levels, reforms at MPS have resulted in laudable academic improvements. The MPS board is directing reforms at the high school level, which, in future years will pay dividends.
And they credit school choice for competition and for prodding the system to improve.
They also applaud school choice advocates for working with the system to fund the smaller high school project and for working cooperatively on various partnership projects.
But let's be honest, success stories in MPS are frequently overshadowed by failure.
Consider that by the time African-American students enter their sophomore year in the Milwaukee Public Schools, taxpayers have invested about $100,000 per pupil in their education.
Yet data from last year's state tests show that only one in five black MPS sophomores is proficient in math or science. Fewer than four in 10 are proficient in reading.
To make matters worse, the majority of black MPS students won't receive a high school diploma.
And aside from rhetoric, neither the teachers union nor state politicians have an answer to this phenomenon.
Instead, many foolishly attack school choice, which is giving students a vehicle for success and achievement.
After 15 years of school choice for low-income families, Journal Sentinel stories make it clear that Milwaukee is much better off as a result of the parental choice program.
It's also clear that the dire predictions of harm to MPS have not come to pass. Indeed, the public schools in Milwaukee have received a sharp increase in per-pupil spending, and MPS is making progress in improving academic achievement.
The teachers union wants to undo this by placing an artificial lid on the number of low-income families that have expanded educational options.
They are pressuring the governor not to lift the cap, and he is responding by misleading citizens into believing there are justifiable reasons for holding our children hostage, ending their dreams.
The teachers union should rethink its position and support the kind of choice for these families - low income and primarily African-American - that MPS teachers themselves value so dearly.
Wrong link to cap
Conversely, the governor should not link the cap to a myriad of laudable but unrealistic demands that have little to do with the school choice program.
For the record, we support greater accountability, increases to the SAGE program and greater resources for MPS.
But both Democrats and Republicans say those goals are not attainable at this point.
The funding provision is not agreeable as part of a stand-alone bill and should be part of the budgetary process.
Thus, it is obvious our children and their futures are being held hostage, are being made pawns of a partisan political game for which the rules are always changing.
Apparently, we only made a dent in the apartheid wall.
Mikel Holt is vice president of Malik Communications, a local public relations firm, associate publisher of the Milwaukee Community Journal and author of the book "Not Yet Free at Last, Our Battle for School Choice."
This column appeared in the January 29, 2026 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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