Minneapolis public schools are bracing for a dramatic loss in students. School officials cite the impact of expanded school choice. But in Milwaukee, home of the nation’s broadest tax-support voucher program for low-income families, school choice has led to higher enrollments, as well as improved student achievement, in that city’s public schools. How has this happened?

Minneapolis Interim Supt. David Jennings, in presenting projections in November, said the loss of students is primarily due to competition from charter and suburban schools for families in north and south-central Minneapolis. Current enrollment in regular Minneapolis public schools is just over 43,000, according to officials, or down about 5 percent from a year ago. Jennings said the district could lose another 10,000 during the next five years.

The argument that more educational options is bound to result in fewer students – and thus less money - for public schools is to be expected. But as witness Milwaukee, it doesn’t necessarily hold true.

Statistics there, as reported in 2003, show that Milwaukee public school enrollment have been increasing at the very same time families enjoy more choices for educating their children. Enrollment in Milwaukee public schools grew at the apparent expense of private schools, said Abigail Schumwinger a researcher at the Milwaukee-based American Education Reform Council.

Exactly why students are leaving Milwaukee private schools is unclear, Schumwinger said. But she pointed to the existence of new no-tuition options – both in improved regular public school offerings and in public charter schools – that may be attracting private school families to public schools. This may be happening at the very same time that a smaller number of low-income families are taking advantage of free choices in private schools.

Between 1990 and 2001, the total number of school-age children in Milwaukee remained essentially the same, Schumwinger said. At the same time, however, the percentage of children actually attending school rose from 85.2 percent to 89.4 percent – an increase of 6,000 students. During that period, Schumwinger noted, public school enrollment grew by about 9,000 and private school enrollment actually dropped by about 3,000.

The following data underscore the growth – in both enrollments and budgets – in Milwaukee Public Schools from 1990 to 2003, according to the 2003 AERC report:

• Enrollment increased almost 6 percent, from 92,061 to 97,293.

• Inflation-adjusted per-pupil spending increased from $8,520 to $11,772.

• Inflation-adjusted state aid grew from $396 million to $649 million.

How does all this compute? The voucher system in Milwaukee means public schools no longer have near-exclusive ownership and control when it comes educating boys and girls. Supt. William Andrekopoulos underscored that point in the AERC report, saying the competition “has raised the bar on educators in Milwaukee to provide a good product, or they know that parents will simply walk.”

How did Milwaukee public schools attract students? School Board member Kenneth Johnson has witnessed the changes firsthand. As he explained, “There was a culture change in Milwaukee that was spurred by the newly elected board that allowed the public and teachers to spread their wings and try new things.”

Johnson identified key areas where school choice has forced government schools to change:

• Dollars now follow students which forces schools to recruit families by bolstering programs. Individual schools, as opposed to the district itself, control 95 percent of district operating funds. The school board led this initiative, Johnson said.

• Teachers now are often hired by school selection committees. Seniority previously dictated most building assignments.

• The district expanded full-day kindergarten for 4-year-olds, as demanded by parents.

• Public schools facilities were expanded in central city neighborhoods, which were once bypassed in favor of new buildings in largely white areas.

Andrekopoulos’ comments about competition allude to an equally – if not even more – important aspect of the school choice debate.

The strongest argument for expanding educational options is the contribution school choice can make in narrowing the gap in academic achievement between whites and non-Asian minorities in public schools, too. For example, between 1990 and 2002, the annual high school dropout rate in Milwaukee public schools declined from 16.2 percent to 9 percent.

That progress is a story in itself.

-- Jim Pumarlo is Senior Fellow for Education Policy at Center of the American Experiment, a conservative think tank in Minneapolis. 

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