by David Safier
Advocates for private school vouchers sell them as a way for students to leave lousy, union run, bureaucracy laden public schools — or "government schools," as they call them — for what they claim are the much, much greener pastures of private schools.
Except that, in study after study, students attending private schools do no better than similar students in public schools.
And here is the latest blow to the voucher myth: In Milwaukee, where a low income voucher program has been in effect for 20 years, voucher students in the private schools scored significantly worse than their counterparts in Milwaukee public schools.
Students who received vouchers to attend private or religious schools in Milwaukee performed worse on statewide reading and math tests than their counterparts in public schools, according to test scores released Tuesday.
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The test results show that for all grades, 34.4 percent of voucher students were proficient or advanced in math compared to Milwaukee public schools' 47.8 percent average and the 43.9 percent average for low-income Milwaukee public schools students. Statewide, 77.2 percent of public school students scored proficient or advanced in math.
On reading scores, 55.2 percent of voucher students were advanced or proficient compared with 59 percent of Milwaukee public school students. Among Milwaukee's low-income public school students, 55.3 percent proficient or advanced. Overall, 83 percent of public school students in Wisconsin hit those marks.
Honest man that I am, I have to admit, I'm not convinced the comparisons were done carefully, so the lower scores of students in private schools may be exaggerated.
But I do know a careful 2010 study comparing public and voucher students in Milwaukee found no appreciable difference in achievement between the two groups. One of the researchers, Jay Greene, is a senior fellow at the Goldwater Institute, so this isn't some liberal anti-voucher hatchet job. And Frederick M. Hess, a well known educational scholar who supports vouchers, commented about the study's findings that voucher supporters really have to stop pushing the idea that private schools boost student achievement.
With that kind of data, you would think voucher advocates would lay low, right? Wrong.
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker — yes, that Gov. Scott Walker — wants to expand Milwaukee's voucher program to include all students regardless of income.
Indiana Republicans are pushing a proposal "that would be the nation's broadest use of school vouchers, allowing even middle-class families to use taxpayer money to send their kids to private schools."
Florida is trying to reinstate its voucher program that was shot down by the state supreme court by creating something it calls "Education Savings Accounts."
And last legislative session, Arizona added 50% to the amount people can contribute to that classic backdoor voucher, the Tuition Tax Credit. Meanwhile, our Republicans have a different name for the Education Savings Account idea: "Arizona Empowerment Accounts."
By any other name, vouchers smell just as rotten, and are just as ineffective at raising student achievement.