Milwaukee Board Tips In Favor of Vouchers

By Catherine Gewertz

A recent election to the Milwaukee school board has created a voting majority that supports the city's private-school-voucher program, triggering elation among the program's advocates and worry among public school loyalists.

The addition of Barbara Horton, a former high-ranking administrator in the city's school district who now runs a school in the voucher program, means five people on the nine-member board now favor the 12-year-old, state-enacted program that uses public funds to send 10,000 children from low-income Milwaukee families to private schools. They also have expressed willingness to consider privatizing some of the district's schools.

The new majority is viewed as supporting Superintendent Spence Korte's attempts to bolster accountability through added assessments. The five board members also back his efforts to decentralize the district by restoring more authority to principals and allowing more children...