SACRAMENTO, CA -- Perhaps the most disingenuous argument against school choice is the claim of the public education establishment that vouchers will cost taxpayers more money than simply continuing to fund the public schools. The truth is that where choice has been tried, taxpayer costs have gone down. For example, in Milwaukee, voucher-receiving private schools are actually sending taxpayer dollars back to the government.

Under the Milwaukee school-choice program, low-income students in 1998-99 received a taxpayer-funded voucher worth $4,894. Compare that amount to the $9,500 per student which the Milwaukee Public Schools will spend in 2000-01. Yet, even with only half the funding per student, nearly half the private schools participating in the Milwaukee program returned part of the voucher money back to the state because their per-pupil costs were still less than the voucher amount. In total, nearly $1.2 million was returned to the state.

Why the low private-school costs? According to Lois Maczuzak, an administrator at St. John Kanty School, “We don’t have to pay for huge administration and a lot of red tape.” For example, at St. John Kanty, parents volunteer to supervise recess, lunch hour, and field trips, thus eliminating the need for more paid employees. And, contrary to popular belief, the school receives little assistance from the Milwaukee Catholic archdiocese. Says Maczuzak: “At the Catholic schools, the buck stops here. We don’t have the costs that come with a lot of red tape, but we also are the ones who are responsible for what happens in our schools.”

In addition, while expensive benefit packages to Milwaukee Public School employees are a significant factor in the high cost of public education, private-sector personnel costs are much lower. According to a University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee study, teacher salaries in Milwaukee’s private schools are about half of those paid to public-school teachers. Yet, despite the low pay of their teachers, studies have shown that voucher-receiving students in Milwaukee outperform their public-school counterparts. Which proves, once again, that there is little, if any, correlation between teacher salaries and student performance.

The continuing frugality of Milwaukee’s voucher-receiving private schools also undercuts another argument used by anti-choice forces, i.e., that private schools would automatically raise their tuition to the amount of the voucher. According to the Milwaukee Sentinel, there is a common-sense reason why tuition rates haven’t gone up: “While public schools in Wisconsin have their budgets capped by state-imposed revenue limits, private schools’ spending tends to be capped by market forces. If tuition becomes too high, private schools hurt their own ability to compete for student customers.” At many voucher-receiving schools, significant numbers of students do not qualify for vouchers.

Says Richard Gottschalk, administrator at a Lutheran school where only 25 percent of students receive vouchers: “We are committed to the mission of the school and keeping the tuition affordable. If we raised the pupil costs so that our salaries were in line with the public schools, 75 percent of the students would have to pay higher tuition.”

The Milwaukee school-choice program proves that higher student performance can be achieved for less money. The lesson for educators, policymakers, and the public is simple: the market works, government monopoly doesn’t.

-By Lance T. Izumi