Nearly a Third of Schools Found To Exceed Enrollment Limits

By Cheryl Gamble

An audit of the private schools in the Milwaukee school-choice program by the Wisconsin education department has found that nearly a third of the schools exceeded enrollment limits set by state law.

The controversial program allows low-income students to enroll in nonreligious private schools at the state's expense. It prohibits each school, however, from allowing those students to make up more than 65 percent of its total enrollment.

The audit last month of 16 of the 17 schools in the program found that five had exceeded that limit. Two of them, the Exito Education Center and the Milwaukee Preparatory School, have closed because of financial troubles related to the enrollment discrepancies. (See Education...