Competition generated by private-school-tuition vouchers did not lead to higher student test scores in Milwaukee public schools, a study indicates.
The findings from Milwaukee, which has the longest-running voucher program in the country, run counter to arguments by voucher supporters that competition to attract students forces schools to improve. The study, published by the Washington-based Economic Policy Institute as a book, found that, although public school performance in Milwaukee rose for two years following the 1998 expansion of the publicly funded voucher program to include religious schools, there was little or no further improvement in later years even as competition from charter and private schools increased.
“Vouchers and Public School Performance” is published by the Economic Policy Institute.
