Education Law

Voucher accountability at last (maybe)

BoardBuzz wonders why it took so  long for the Wisconsin legislature to realize that parental choice does not hold schools accountable under Milwaukee’s voucher program. Lawmakers are close to approving additional accountability measures required of the participating voucher schools (see this article in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel) after more than a decade of showing no evidence of increased student achievement among those attending vouchers schools and their peers in public schools (see previous BoardBuzz item here).  Not to mention, Milwaukee taxpayers continue to bear the brunt of the cost of vouchers.

The new measures would require voucher schools to give standardized tests and report the results, hire teachers with at least a bachelor’s degree, and provide, at minimum, the same amount of instruction time as public schools, according to the article.

You would think these are pretty basic requirements to ensure the quality of school, but it has taken two decades for state lawmakers to apply them to voucher schools.  NSBA continues to oppose private school vouchers and tutition tax creidts that take taxpayer funds away from public schools.  For more information, check out the Voucher Strategy Center , which contains resources on state voucher and programs and research.

Full post as published by BoardBuzz: NSBA's Daily Weblog on June 05, 2009 (boomark / email).