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February 2006
By: The Wall Street Journal
After three previous vetoes, Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle finally did right by inner-city school kids last week and signed on to a bipartisan compromise that would expand Milwaukee's successful school voucher program.
The 16-year-old Parental Choice Program, which provides vouchers for low-income children to attend private schools, is the nation's largest. But under current law enrollment is capped at about 15,000 students, or 15% of Milwaukee's public school enrollment. The deal being hashed out by Governor Doyle, a Democrat, and State Assembly Speaker John Gard, a Republican, would lift that cap by 50% to accommodate some 22,500 students.
This fix may seem like a no-brainer. After all, the program's success is apparent not only by its popularity but by study after study showing that vouchers have increased graduation rates and raised education standards. But until now, Governor Doyle has cared less about building on this success and more about placating a teachers union that's opposed to the competition.
Ultimately, a sustained grass-roots campaign led by choice proponents -- along with flagging poll numbers among Mr. Doyle's pro-voucher black base in an election year -- forced the Governor's hand. A particularly effective television spot by the Alliance for Choices in Education featured a black father telling the camera, "If school choice is good enough for the Governor's family, I ought to be able to have it, too." Governor Doyle's son attended a private school. Sometimes it helps to point out the hypocrisy of public officials who exercise the very freedoms they deny others.
Voucher advocates, who want the enrollment cap removed altogether, didn't get everything they wanted, but they did get the better of the Governor. And with some extra breathing room, they're hoping focus can return to student achievement, where it should be.
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