In a largely partisan vote, state lawmakers concluded hours of committee debate Monday by approving a bill that would increase the cap on Milwaukee's school choice program.
The measure, called Senate Bill 618 or Assembly Bill 1057, proposes to raise the existing cap of 15,000 by 7,500 students. It successfully passed out of a joint education committee hearing last week before arriving at the Joint Finance Committee for consideration Monday.
While SB 618/AB 1057 has garnered some bipartisan support, a majority of Democrats — most notably those representing Milwaukee — remain opposed to the initiative that has sparked recent charges of financial irresponsibility.
"It seems today that we are violating a promise [to taxpayers]," committee member Rep. Pedro Colón, D-Milwaukee, said, adding the bill unfairly punishes the city's taxpayers.
Colón was one of the four Democratic committee members to vote against the bill, which passed in an 11 to 5 vote.
Other Milwaukee committee members agreed, viewing the bill's effort to help low-income children as an ultimate disservice to the city as a whole.
Specifically, Democrats charge the funding demanded by the choice program will disadvantage public school students by threatening the Milwaukee Public School system's already-pinched budget.
But according to bill proponents, increasing the cap will offer quality educations to thousands of low-income students who cannot afford to wait until the MPS system improves its standards.
"We need to further this initiative because the choice seats are being rationed," committee member and SB 618 author Sen. Alberta Darling, R-River Hills, said. "Right now we're at the point where all those children — up to 4,000 of them — will be told 'Sorry, you can't go to the school of your choice.'"
Committee Democrats, however, said bill supporters sorely misrepresent the issue by claiming to protect Milwaukee's children while simultaneously dismissing their parents' financial realities.
According to Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, who testified at SB 618/AB 1057's public hearing last week, the measure will cost taxpayers $1,000 for every choice student enrolled.
As financial issues continued to distress bill opponents, Democrats offered a number of amendments to address the MPS system's funding problems.
One amendment proposed to ease the burden on the MPS system by counting choice students in its funding formula, which, once calculated, would allocate funding to the public school system based on the total number of students attending MPS schools and choice program students attending private schools. Currently, the formula counts only those who attend MPS schools, though the tuition for choice students is taken out of the MPS budget.
All amendments were voted down by committee members.
While Democratic members continued to actively push for various amendment adoptions, Republicans expressed staunch interest in approving the bill in its original form without further compromise.
"Get it to the governor who said he will sign it," Sen. Luther Olsen, R-Ripon, said. "Any amendment here could be the killing of the bill. It may make it better, but it may make it dead."
SB 618/AB 1057 was the product of a recent agreement made between Doyle and Assembly Speaker John Gard, R-Peshtigo. With its heavyweight backing, the measure is expected to pass both the Assembly and the Senate in the near future.
