MADISON . . . Two Milwaukee-area legislators have drafted new legislation to end the school choice enrollment cap once and for all and provide the public with comprehensive information about the test scores of students in the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program (MPCP), according to the bill’s authors Representative Leah Vukmir (R-Wauwatosa) and Senator Alberta Darling (R-River Hills).
“With the state’s rationing plan on the immediate horizon, we have to act quickly to avoid more needless disruption in the lives of students and families,” said Vukmir, Chair of the Assembly Education Reform Committee.
Earlier this month, the state’s Department of Public Instruction (DPI) released their plans for rationing the existing spots in the program. If the current enrollment cap stays in place, up to 4,000 students will lose seats in schools they have chosen and dozens of schools will face the prospect of closing.
“We are prepared to send a no-strings-attached bill to Governor Doyle that will prevent school choice rationing. What remains to be seen is whether he will sign it,” said Darling, a member of the Joint Committee on Finance and the Senate Education Committee.
The legislation will:
1. End the enrollment cap on the MPCP.
2. Eliminate eligibility barriers that bar many low-income families from the MPCP.
3. Modify the program’s eligibility criteria so that students in families experiencing a small increase in income aren’t removed from the MPCP.
4. Direct the Legislative Audit Bureau to provide comprehensive reports on standardized test scores based on an independent scholarly research project that will begin this year.
Vukmir and Darling called on Governor Doyle to work directly with the Legislature to avert the imposition of rationing, now set to begin February 20. Governor Doyle previously has vetoed bills to conduct independent research on the MPCP and to end the enrollment cap.
