Milwaukee Wi Schools

Growing frustration with public schools has helped forge an unlikely alliance between blacks and conservative whites that may make Wisconsin the first state in the nation to use public funds to pay directly for private school educations. The school plan--sort of a modified voucher system passed by the Legislature in March--is scheduled to go into effect with the start of school in the fall.

One lesson is clear from this city's decade-old experiment with school vouchers: A lot of people didn't know as much about schools as they thought they did. Barbara Lee, a Catholic school principal, didn't know that two-thirds of her teaching staff would quit the first year her school accepted voucher students. Edward Mc Milin, a public school bureaucrat, didn't know that, given choices, many parents would care more about day care than test scores. And Taki S.

Inside a former plumbing parts warehouse next to the railroad tracks, the dividing line between public and private education becomes hopelessly blurred. Most of the warehouse is now the 209-student Holy Redeemer Christian Academy. But one room on the second floor is a separate school, serving children who pay their tuition with government vouchers. And come next year, the basement will house a church-operated public charter school, serving college-bound arts students.

Inside a former plumbing parts warehouse next to the railroad tracks, the dividing line between public and private education becomes hopelessly blurred. Most of the warehouse is now the 209-student Holy Redeemer Christian Academy. But one room on the second floor is a separate school, serving children who pay their tuition with government vouchers. And come next year, the basement will house a church-operated public charter school, serving college-bound arts students.

One lesson is clear from this city's decade-old experiment with school vouchers: A lot of people didn't know as much about schools as they thought they did. Barbara Lee, a Catholic school principal, didn't know that two-thirds of her teaching staff would quit the first year her school accepted voucher students. Edward Mc Milin, a public school bureaucrat, didn't know that, given choices, many parents would care more about day care than test scores. And Taki S.

Growing frustration with public schools has helped forge an unlikely alliance between blacks and conservative whites that may make Wisconsin the first state in the nation to use public funds to pay directly for private school educations. The school plan--sort of a modified voucher system passed by the Legislature in March--is scheduled to go into effect with the start of school in the fall.