New Tethers Eyed for Milwaukee Vouchers

Additional Accountability Is Legislation's Stated Aim; Many Voucher Supporters Wary

Private schools participating in the Milwaukee voucher program would face a raft of new state mandates under a budget package winding through the Wisconsin legislature, from rules on standardized testing and minimum yearly hours of instruction to requirements that some campuses offer bilingual education.

At the same time, the plan would reduce the maximum size of individual vouchers for students by 2.5 percent, to $6,442 each year, a drop of $165 per pupil.

Proponents say the goal is to ensure more accountability for the secular and religious schools that enroll students aided by the state-funded program. But the plan has sparked an outcry from private school leaders and some voucher supporters, who say the demands are too burdensome and a back-door attempt to destroy the oldest and one of the largest tuition-voucher...