FIGURE 1.

THE MILWAUKEE PARENTAL CHOICE PROGRAM

Family Qualifications:

* Students must come from households with income 1.75 times

the poverty line or less.

* Students may not have been in private schools or in school districts other than the Milwaukee Public School District in the prior year.

School Qualifications:

* Eligible schools must be private, nonsectarian schools with no religious affiliation or training.

* Schools cannot discriminate in selection based on race, religion, gender, prior achievement, or prior behavioral records. Schools were exempted by court ruling from the Education for All Handicapped Act.

* If classes are oversubscribed, selection is on a random basis.

* Choice students may only be 65% of the students in the school.

* Schools must meet at least one standard established for attendance, parental involvement, student achievement on standardized tests, or grade progress.

Program Specifications:

* Private schools receive the Milwaukee Public School per-member, state-aid (estimated $3,209 in 1994-95) in lieu of tuition.

* The total number of students in the Choice Program in any year is limited to 1.5% of the students in the Milwaukee Public Schools - 1,450 in 1994-95.