School Choice Research: Taxpayer Savings and Parent/Student Satisfaction
Last Updated: February 26, 2008
DATE: February 26, 2008
RE: Longitudinal Study, Milwaukee Parental Choice Program
FROM: Susan Mitchell, President, School Choice Wisconsin
This summarizes information in four reports issued yesterday by academic researchers who are conducting an independent longitudinal study of school choice in Milwaukee. The reports are available at http://www.uark.edu/ua/der/SCDP/Research.html.
The reports represent initial findings from a five-year longitudinal study directed by some of the nation’s most knowledgeable scholars in the subject of educational choice. The study team includes University of Wisconsin Professor John Witte. The head of the team is University of Arkansas Professor Patrick Wolf. Officials from the Milwaukee Public Schools participated in developing the study design.
Fiscal Impact
The SCDP evaluation of fiscal impact represents the most comprehensive findings ever assembled on the issue. The conclusions of the analysis are consistent with numerous reports previously issued by the Legislative Fiscal Bureau (LFB), despite the continual misrepresentation of the facts by program opponents.
Taxpayer support for students in the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program (MPCP) is a maximum of $6,501 per pupil. In 2006 (the most recent year cited in the research), per pupil spending in the Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) was $11,885.
Key findings include:
• Net taxpayers savings from the MPCP in 2006-07 totaled $24.6 million.
• The savings are unevenly distributed among taxpayers.
o Those who pay state income and sales taxes as well as property taxpayers in school districts outside the City of Milwaukee benefit. Ending or curtailing the MPCP would increase those taxes.
o There is an adverse impact on City of Milwaukee property taxpayers.
o Legislative efforts in 2007 to address the City of Milwaukee impact were inadequate.
In May of 2007, Mayor Tom Barrett and State Rep. Jason Fields advanced a plan, with bipartisan support, to end the so-called Milwaukee “funding flaw.” Key Milwaukee legislators blocked the Barrett-Fields plan.
Parent and Student Satisfaction
The research team conducted extensive surveys involving a representative sample of parents in the MPCP and in MPS. Both groups report levels of satisfaction above the national average. On a variety of measures, parents of students in the MPCP were more satisfied.
• The majority of parents — MPCP and MPS — cite educational quality as the primary reason for choosing a school. Teacher quality and safety are the next highest priorities.
• A majority of MPCP parents are “very satisfied” with: what is taught at their child’s school; school safety; what their child has learned; and information received from teachers about student progress.
• Nearly three times more MPS parents felt that weapons in their child's school were a serious problem (16.6% vs. 6.3%).
• Far more MPCP parents felt that fighting in schools was not a serious problem.
• Far more MPCP students strongly agreed with the statements, “My school makes sure that classrooms are safe and orderly” and “My school promotes a drug-free environment.”
The survey results also show that most Milwaukee parents, in both public and private schools, make active and informed school choices. The longitudinal research team finds that 77.9% of MPCP parents, and 74.1% of MPS parents report that their children are attending their first school choice. In MPS, 55% of parents report choosing a school outside of their residentially defined area. When MPS parents were asked why they did not apply to the MPCP, only 1 percent cited a lack of information about individual MPCP schools. These results are at odds with a widely publicized report issued last year. That report, which used no data from Milwaukee, concluded that most Milwaukee parents make uninformed choices and often accept “default” school assignments.
Participating Schools and Students
Key findings:
• 29% of teachers at MPCP schools have master’s degrees (compared to 43% in MPS). Teachers at MPCP schools are more likely to have five or more years of teaching experience than their MPS counterparts.
• MPCP schools have an average student to teacher ratio of 13.6, compared to 16.6 in MPS.
• More than 30% of the 122 schools in the MPCP have opened since the program began.
• MPCP schools serve disabled students. The survey of MPCP parents showed that 8.7% have children with special needs. This is particularly noteworthy given that private schools are less likely than MPS schools to label students with mild disabilities as special needs students. In addition, more than two-thirds of MPCP schools offer programs for students with learning problems. Opponents for years have claimed that schools in the MPCP serve few if any such students.
• The majority of students — 78% —in private schools that participate in the MPCP, including MPCP and private-pay students, are minority. The estimated average household income of MPCP parents is $23,371.
• Consistent with multiple findings in earlier studies, enrollment in MPCP schools is less segregated racially than in MPS.
• Of the 122 schools in the MPCP:
o 83.3% have music programs;
o 79.8% have art programs;
o 72.9% have after-school programs;
o 70% offer personal tutoring.
Academic Achievement
The initial reports draw no conclusions about the impact of school choice on academic achievement and high school graduation. Rather, the “baseline” reports describe (1) test scores for a scientifically selected, representative sample of MPCP and MPS students and (2) other scores of MPCP students on standardized tests. Future reports will measure changes among the comparison groups from the baseline and evaluate the impact of school choice.
The study team cautions that readers should not use baseline data to draw conclusions about issues of academic achievement and attainment. Future reports will provide information about these issues
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