Cap Lifted (Not Ended) at a Price

Here's the deal, per the official announcement.

Governor and Speaker Gard Announce Deal on School Choice, Accountability, and Small Class Size Funding
MILWAUKEE Governor Jim Doyle and Assembly Speaker John Gard, joined by other legislators and community leaders, announced an agreement has been reached that will increase the cap on the school choice program, bring strong new accountability to the program, and provide funding to help reduce class sizes in Milwaukee and across Wisconsin.

"This is a reasonable compromise that ensures there will be greater accountability for taxpayer dollars," Governor Doyle said. "It will allow the choice program to continue its growth like advocates wanted, but it will also help public schools in Milwaukee and across the state by providing significant new funding to help lower class sizes."

"I am happy we could reach an agreement before the deadline expired on voucher limits so that thousands of students may continue to have the opportunity to go to the school of their choice," said Speaker Gard. "Our solution will allow even more families to have a say in where they enroll their children, while increasing accountability for voucher schools. I am confident we now have a program
of which we can all be proud and that will be held as a model for school districts throughout thecountry."

The agreement calls for:
An Increase in the Choice Cap. The cap on the Milwaukee Parental School Choice Program will be increased by 7,500 students.

Strong Accountability. All schools participating in the choice program will be required to obtain independent accreditation by an outside group such as (but not limited to) the Wisconsin NorthCentral Association, the Wisconsin Religious and Independent Schools Accreditation, the Institute forthe Transformation of Learning at Marquette University, or the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. In addition,all choice schools will be required to administer the nationally normed standardized tests such as the Iowa Basics Test. The test scores will be reported to the Legislative Audit Bureau for analysis andalso reported to researchers at Georgetown University for use in a longitudinal study of theeffectiveness of the program.

Small Class Size Funding. Funding for the SAGE program, which funds smaller classes in public schools for grades K-3, will be increased from $2,000 to $2,250 per student effective in the Fiscal Year 2008 to Fiscal Year 2009 budget. This results in an increase of $25 million statewide,approximately $8 million of which will directly benefit Milwaukee Public Schools.

Eligibility Changes. The agreement eliminates the requirement that a student can participate in the choice program only if they have attended a Milwaukee Public School in the prior year. It also allows families currently in the program to remain eligible even if their income rises above the current limit.

While the current limit of 175 percent of the federal poverty level will remain in place for newly enrolling families, children in the program and their siblings will be able to remain as long as their family income does not rise to exceed 220 percent of the federal poverty level.

Governor Doyle and Speaker Gard said that the bill would be introduced when the Legislature convenes next week. They called on legislators in both parties to work together to advance the bill quickly so that parents and students in the program can have certainty about their educational plans.

My take? Any compromise comes at a price. This price is rather steep, a $25 Million increase in spending over the biennium. Worse, the funding increase in the deal is accomplished by changing the statutory per pupil reimbursement rate under SAGE, so it will be permanently locked in forever. Any legislative attempt to reduce it in the future could be vetoed back to the higher rate.

Looking at the political realities of the situation (Doyle hurting within his base, Gard running for Congress) it may have been the best deal conservatives who favor the School Choice program could have gotten. Plus, with the open enrollment clock ticking this month, time was of the essence.

It's great that the Milwaukee School Choice Program may have been given a long term reprieve with this deal. Opponents of School Choice complain about the lack of accountability in the program. But I have to wonder about the lack of accountability of the SAGE program.

If forced to vote up or down on a compromise like this, I guess I would hold my nose and reluctantly vote yes. However I would not vote for increased SAGE funding ever ever again. Now that the formula will be changed, this issue, too, has been resolved.