School Choice, Vouchers, and the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program

Abstract

The recent failure of America's urban public schools has led to a wide variety of reform\ud proposals and policies. Over the past decade, the school voucher movement has grown in size and\ud momentum. By decentralizing school systems, voucher programs hope to increase market\ud competition and accountability, which will ultimately lead to stronger schools. The Milwaukee\ud Parental Choice Program (MPCP), started in the fall of 1990, has become the focal point of\ud research on voucher initiatives. While the program is unable to provide for a complete analysis of\ud voucher programs, the MPCP clearly demonstrates that school vouchers can lead to increased\ud academic performance and a efficient financial management of schools. While voucher programs\ud are only one of many options for helping America's troubled schools, they certainly offer hope for\ud America's children