A driving force behind the move in the legislature to expand the Milwaukee school voucher program is from the suburbs.
South Milwaukee, specifically.
Rep. Mark Honadel is the chief sponsor of a controversial bill in the Assembly that would lift a cap on the number of Milwaukee children who are allowed to attend private schools at taxpayer expense — expanding the program to those not just from low-income families and allowing voucher students to enroll in schools throughout Milwaukee County.
This story from the Wisconsin Radio Network sums up the issue pretty well.
Honadel and Delafield Rep. Chris Kapenga introduced Assembly Bill 92 on April 12. His rationale? This Watchdog.org article includes this passage:
“There’s no rationale for limiting the number of students in the program to 22,500,” Honadel said. “By removing this cap we can ensure that our schools can feel secure in making long-term investments in programs.”
Of course, the bill is not without its opponents, including one-time school choice champion Howard Fuller, who say the program was never meant for middle-income children and question if voucher school students outperform those who attend Milwaukee Public Schools.
Hearings on AB 92 and another school voucher-related bill were held Tuesday in Madison.
I’d like to know what do you think of the proposal — and the fact that Honadel is one of its chief proponents. Post your comments below!
South Milwaukee Blog 
Very against this! For every student that is an SM student that leaves because of this voucher program, SM loses money. We are funded from the state on a per student basis.
Also, parents that have resources should not receive vouchers. It stymies me since most Republicans are against entitlement and this is entitlement.
Rocket Lover: In this case, I think the choice program applies only to City of Milwaukee students. But the argument holds true there as well, as funding is redirected from MPS schools to private schools accepting voucher students.
No the bill is expanded to Milwaukee County Residents
It’s my understanding that the expansion boils down to this: For the first time, City of Milwaukee students would be allowed to attend private schools across the county, not just in the City of Milwaukee. Suburban students would still not be eligible to partcicipate for the program (thankfully). There is a summary of Walker’s proposed changes here …
http://www.schoolchoicewi.org/currdev/detail.cfm?id=320
Now, this could conceivably be good for South Milwaukee private schools like Divine Mercy, which could for the first time take voucher students, if they like. But I am sure there are drawbacks to doing that as well.
Indeed, this is a complicated issue, and I welcome everyone’s comments on this!
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