Don t vouchers drain resources from public schools?
Absolutely not! Just look at these examples: Milwaukee Between 1990 and 2001 real per-pupil spending increased over $1,800 from $7,646 to $9,502, and real state aid to Milwaukee went from $410 million to $661 million. In fact, according to the 2000 government-sponsored audit of the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program, “During the period in which the Choice program has been funded … Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) experienced a net increase in both equalization aid and total state aids.” Moreover, consider an MPS sponsored report in 2002 which estimated that if the choice program were eliminated and all the voucher students returned to their local public school, MPS could incur $70 million in added operating expenses and could have to borrow $70 million for new facilities. Cleveland According to the Ohio Department of Education, between 1996 and 2002 expenditures for the City’s public schools rose from $559.6 million to $725 million. Spending per-pupil has also increased, from $7,970 to
