The Wisconsin Senate last week moved to ease the enrollment cap on Milwaukee's successful voucher program. (See http://www.edexcellence.net/gadfly/issue.cfm?issue=168#2039 for more on the debate.) The bill would raise the current limit of 15 percent of Milwaukee's K-12 students by 1,500 for one year, to 16,500 students. But the opposition continues to cry foul. Democratic state Sen. Tim Carpenter, an opponent of the bill, accused supporters of focusing "on a wedge issue that pits poor people in the city of Milwaukee against other poor people." Governor Jim Doyle is expected to veto the bill, because, according to a Doyle spokesman, "he stands by his belief that any change to the cap should be part of a broader package that would benefit all schoolchildren in Milwaukee." That's politician-speak for reining in the program, plus lavish new public school spending. One proponent of easing the cap cried, "Don't hold the children hostage for crimes adults committed." Too late.
"Senate approves new voucher school cap," by Todd Richmond, Associated Press, February 8, 2005
"Doyle veto likely for one-year reprieve," by Sarah Carr, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, February 8, 2005