Today in Milwaukee 11,163 children receive vouchers to attend 107 different private schools. What began as an experiment in market-based education reform has grown to be one of the largest educational programs in the state of Wisconsin. Over the past five years, the Public Policy Forum has conducted a census of all schools participating in the…

The Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) Neighborhood Schools Initiative (NSI) appears to be making incremental progress towards its twin goals of increasing neighborhood capacity and reducing busing, although results are mixed in this 2002-2003 report, the third year of NSI implementation. Reported findings include: (1) Thirty-nine percent of all…

The federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 has set a bar that determines the level at which students are expected to achieve, and schools and school districts are measured, not against each other, but on whether or not they meet the standard set by the law. Following the 2002-2003 school year, 60 schools in Southeastern Wisconsin school…

One school year after implementation of the Neighborhood Schools Initiative (NS), more Milwaukee Public School (MPS) district schools enroll more neighborhood students, although the increase in neighborhood enrollment is not the result of capacity-building; fewer schools have the capacity to enroll all their neighborhood students than two years…

The Forum's 16th annual report on public schooling in Southeastern Wisconsin reveals that spending increased 4% in Southeastern Wisconsin school districts to $2.8 billion last year, although the Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) experienced a significantly smaller increase (2.7%). Part of this relatively small increase can be attributed to the…

For the first time since the expansion of the choice program to include religious schools in 1998-1999, fewer K4 students are receiving vouchers than in the previous year. This decrease accompanies the first year of implementation of the Milwaukee Public Schools' (MPS) Neighborhood Schools Initiative, which added full-day K4 to 27 MPS neighborhood…

Wisconsin's Open Enrollment program, which policymakers hope will improve educational performance by introducing competition to public schools, allows students to enroll in any district in the state, provided space is available. First implemented in the 1998-1999 school year, the program now includes 1% of all Wisconsin K-12 students. In its first…

In its annual analysis of Milwaukee charter schools, the Forum found that Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) charter school students substantially outperform University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM) and City charter school students, especially at the elementary school level. The charter school movement continues to gain momentum across the country as…