California legislators now have every reason to establish parental choice in education because the nation’s longest running voucher program has left supporters of the status quo without a single argument.

A new report by Wisconsin’s state auditor, available online at www.legis.state.wi.us/lab/windex.htm, confirms that Milwaukee’s choice plan neither harms the public schools nor promotes racial discrimination, both key arguments of an anti-choice education establishment, particularly its teacher cartels.

That establishment also claimed that the Milwaukee plan, which includes religious schools, violated the First Amendment. The U.S. Supreme Court settled this issue by upholding a Wisconsin ruling that the plan was fully constitutional.

Establishment critics predicted that affluent whites would dominate the choice schools. But the Wisconsin auditor’s report confirms that there are more African Americans in the choice schools, 62.4 percent of enrollment, than in the Milwaukee public schools, 61.4 percent. Whites constitute 20.2 percent of Milwaukee public schools but only 18.8 percent of the choice schools. But ethnic and religious issues are not the primary reasons why parents opted for the choice schools.

According to the auditor’s report, 52.3 percent of parents were concerned with safety, 51.6 percent dissatisfied with class size, 36.7 percent dissatisfied with academic standards, and 35.2 percent dissatisfied with the quality of teachers.

When it came to selecting among participating private schools, higher educational standards came first, 71.1 percent, followed by good teachers, 70.4 percent, and a safe and orderly learning environment, sought by 67.8 percent of parents in the Milwaukee choice plan. Parents’ desire for religious instruction ranked fourth, at 65.1 percent, and ethnic issues placed a distant eleventh, important to only 14.5 percent of parents. And those who opted not to participate also benefit.

Not only does Milwaukee’s voucher system not adversely affect the public schools, the state auditor’s report noted, but "some studies report that the choice program has actually improved Milwaukee Public Schools’ fiscal condition." That makes perfect sense because choice in education is not a zero-sum proposition.

The Milwaukee public school monopoly enjoyed guaranteed funding and captive clients, regardless of performance. But now that the choice plan provides competition by allowing students to take their money and go elsewhere, the Milwaukee public schools have launched much-needed reforms.

The Wisconsin report does not address the issue of whether parental choice improves academic performance. However, a study by Harvard’s Paul Petersen has already showed that it does. Contrary to what the education monopoly claims, parents, even in the inner cities, are fully capable of making decisions that will benefit their children. Parents would hardly opt for a school that did not enhance their children’s chances of success. The increased performance, it should be noted, comes at a lower cost.

In many of Milwaukee’s choice schools, costs are in the range of $4,000–5,000 per year, well within the choice plan’s current per-pupil payment of $5,106. That figure is well below the average per-pupil rate of spending in California, and far below cities such as Los Angeles and San Francisco. A choice system would grow quickly there, as it has in Milwaukee.

That city’s plan initially funded 341 pupils in seven schools but now includes 8,000 students in nearly 100 schools, with enrollment tripling since 1998. The plan’s overall cost to date is $92.6 million, less than half the cost of the Belmont Learning Center, the $250-million high school in Los Angeles that will never open its doors to students. That project stands as a symbol of failure nationwide.

The education monopoly is doing a poor job and parents everywhere are demanding reform. Some legislators are showing the courage to make the necessary changes. Florida and Ohio operate choice programs, now being considered by more than 20 other states.

California’s non-partisan Legislative Analyst has recommended a pilot program of vouchers for students in the state’s worst schools. The legislature has failed to follow that recommendation. Now the Milwaukee example has left California legislators without any excuses.

California legislators know that parental choice in education does not violate the First Amendment, hurt the public schools, or promote racial segregation. On the other hand, they also know for certain that choice improves student performance and is popular with parents. But unlike Milwaukee parents, Californians still lack such opportunities.

The California Constitution says that children shall be provided with an education but it does not specify how. There is nothing sacred about the current bureaucratic monopoly that has provided dismal results at high cost, and whose arguments are more about preserving power than providing a quality education.

There is no longer any legal, academic, or practical reason to deny parents the right to choose. Truly progressive legislators will establish parental choice in education as a matter of right. That move will take courage, but it will also brighten the future for all Californians.

*Kenneth Lloyd Billingsley is editorial director of the California-based Pacific Research Institute.