An annual report by School Choice Wisconsin documents how the Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) have responded and improved during a time of rapid expansion of educational options such as school vouchers and charter schools.

Opponents of the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program (MPCP) had predicted that expanding educational options, such as through educational vouchers, would damage MPS. They foresaw enrollment declines, funding reductions, and reduced academic achievement for students “left behind.”

These predictions have not come to pass.

MPS enrollment is up. Real spending — adjusted for inflation — has increased substantially. Academic achievement and levels of high school graduation have improved, while remaining too low.

“Milwaukee’s Public Schools in an Era of Choice,” a document published by School Choice WIsconsin in February 2007, outlines these changes (see PDF below).

In addition, MPS Superintendent, William Andrekopolous, joins many of the MPS School Board members who favor a broad program of school choice in Milwaukee.

A letter from Andrekopolous to U.S. Education Secretary Rod Paige states, “…our highly competitive market for school enrollment has made us very eager to give parents and children information and options in the neighborhoods where they live…. We know from experience how parents armed with information and options can become the most powerful and effective advocates for their children. We have found in MPS, that parents who advocate, also participate in the academic success of their children.” (See PDF below.)

Far from being harmed by school choice, Harvard University economist Caroline Hoxby has published research showing that MPS elementary schools most susceptible to choice have produced significant gains in standardized test scores (see PDF below).

Manhattan Institute researcher Jay Greene also has found positive responses from MPS schools to choice and charter competition (see PDF below).

And, a report from At-Large MPS School Director John Gardner, provides still more evidence that negative predictions about choice are ill-founded (see PDF below).

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680K Milwaukee's Public Schools in an Era of Choice

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Andrekopolous_Paige.pdf 1.03MB Andrekopolous letter to Sec. Paige

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Hoxby_Study.pdf 487.87KB The Economics of School Choice

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J_Greene_Mke_study.pdf 54.92KB Rising to the Challenge

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GardnerMPS.pdf 340K How School Choice Helps the Milwaukee Public Schools