New Analysis Shows Milwaukee’s Religious Schools Now Overwhelmingly Enroll Voucher Students
New Analysis Shows Milwaukee’s Religious Schools Now Overwhelmingly Enroll Voucher Students
A recent analysis conducted by The Wall Street Journal has highlighted the significant impact of Milwaukee’s school voucher program on religious education in the city. Since the program allowed parochial schools to accept voucher students in 1998, these schools have become the majority participants in the program. However, the analysis also reveals that schools with a higher percentage of voucher students tend to have lower performance on standardized tests in math and English.
While some of the highest-performing voucher schools limit the number of students receiving subsidies, approximately 81 out of 120 schools now have 75 percent or more voucher students. The voucher sector’s test scores have not shown improvement compared to public schools, although one study did find that Milwaukee students using private school vouchers were more likely to graduate high school and enroll in four-year colleges.
The Milwaukee program, which began in 1990 with only a few private academies, initially excluded religious schools and limited voucher enrollment to 49 percent per school. However, these restrictions were lifted in 1995 and religious schools were allowed to accept state-issued vouchers by the state’s Supreme Court. Since then, the number of religious schools participating in the program has significantly increased, with over 90 percent of the 120 voucher schools in Milwaukee now being religiously oriented.
The dominance of religious schools in the voucher system can be attributed to economic factors. With a decline in parochial school enrollment across the country, major churches in Wisconsin, predominantly Catholic and Lutheran, have embraced state-sponsored tuition for new students. While enrollment numbers are still decreasing, the decline has slowed in recent years for Catholic schools.
The involvement of government authorities in religiously affiliated institutions has raised concerns about the separation of church and state. While civil-liberties advocates worry about the blending of government and religion, worshippers should also consider the impact of state subsidies on their schools. As religious schools increasingly rely on vouchers as a source of revenue, the number of families paying full tuition has significantly decreased. In schools that have accepted voucher students since 1998, the proportion of full-pay students has dropped from 72 percent to 19 percent.
These demographic changes have not only affected parochial schools but also the faith communities that support them. A study conducted in 2017 found that Catholic churches running voucher schools now receive more revenue from vouchers than from their own parishioners. While this has prevented church closures and consolidations, it has also led to a decrease in church donations and spending on non-educational activities, thereby narrowing the churches’ spiritual focus.
In terms of academic performance, large numbers of voucher students have not resulted in impressive outcomes. Vouchers were initially designed to help low-income children escape from underperforming public schools in Milwaukee. However, many voucher students join private schools several grade levels behind, and these schools often exhibit concentrated poverty similar to the public schools they left.
While the Wall Street Journal analysis highlights a few high-performing schools with predominantly voucher students, the most respected private schools in Milwaukee tend to limit voucher enrollment. A review of standardized testing data for 108 of the 120 voucher schools revealed that the best-performing schools in English or math had no more than 54 percent voucher students.
Experts, such as Richard Kahlenberg from the Century Foundation, have long argued for socioeconomic integration as a key factor in improving academic performance for vulnerable children. A study conducted in 2010 in Montgomery County, Maryland, found that low-income students achieved higher math scores when educated alongside more affluent peers.
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Original Text:
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Rewritten Text:
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