http://www.onenewsnow.com/Education/Default.aspx?id=1273946School choice supporters in Wisconsin are applauding a new study showing that students in the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program are more likely to receive diplomas than are students who attend the city's public schools.
John Robert Warren, national expert and professor at the University of Minnesota, conducted the report and estimates that the graduation rate for students in Milwaukee's choice program is about 18 percent higher that of students in the city's public schools. Michael Ford is vice president of operations for School Choice Wisconsin, the group that funded the study. He says the report, which is based on seven years of data, is a "powerful indicator of the success of the Milwaukee school-choice program in general and the potential of school-choice programs across the country."
Michael Ford (School Choice Wisconsin)The program awards low-income parents a voucher that allows them to send their children to a participating private school, including religious schools. But Ford points out the state also benefits fiscally from this initiative.
"The public support of a pupil in the choice program is $6,442. If you look at the Milwaukee Public Schools, taking all sources into account, it's over $15,000," he compares. "So it's obviously a cost-savings to the state of Wisconsin. And...a recent report by Bob Costrell, who's at the University of Arkansas, showed that the choice program saves Wisconsin taxpayers about $50 million annually."
The study also reveals that had Milwaukee Public Schools achieved the same graduation rate as those in the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program, nearly 4,000 more students would have graduated between 2003 to 2009.
Topic: Study: Choice saves money, enhances graduation rates (Read 1367 times)