Celebrating 35 years of advancing freedom in Wisconsin

VIEWPOINT

Think of them as 'make better choices' schools

By Patrick McIlheran

Between the time these words are written and your reading them, the odds are better than even that someone will be murdered in Milwaukee. The year is a bit over 5,500 hours old. With 149 homicides, that means about every 36 hours, someone unjustly takes a life that should have mattered more.

That’s not to mention rapes, at more than one a day, or car theft, running about one an hour. It’s a clock of ruined lives, including those of the criminals, who likely will be caught eventually, especially if they post viral videos inspiring youths in other cities to steal cars, as a Milwaukee gang did. They deserve punishment, these killers, rapists and thieves, for the choices they made, but how much better for everyone if they made better choices.

How? It isn’t complicated. Hard, but not complicated. As Marilyn Anderson Rhames, who spent 14 years teaching in the Chicago Public Schools puts it, there aren’t any children fated to be bad, but children need to be taught what is right. “They need input, they need adults to lead them in the right direction,” she said.

Then she gets to the hard part: “Faith offers that. It has for generations. And when it’s not there, there is a lack, and there is opportunity for other influences, negative influences, to come in that vacuum and fill it.”

Rhames wasn’t preaching. She was discussing research she did at the University of Arkansas. She and Patrick Wolf looked at 1,100 young people, some who went to Milwaukee Public Schools, others who went to schools in Milwaukee’s Parental Choice Program. About 9 out of 10 Milwaukee private “voucher” schools are religious or following a religious tradition, so Rhames and Wolf looked to see whether that religious element made a difference when the students were older.

It did. 

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Free Exchange

The moral ecology of learning: How school choice helps Milwaukeeans

Earlier research already showed that children who went to schools in Milwaukee’s Parental Choice Program were less likely to get in trouble as young adults. Marilyn Anderson Rhames, an education scholar, found that these happier life outcomes were specifically linked to the religious content so prevalent in Milwaukee’s choice schools.

Rhames, who spent 14 years as a teacher in Chicago’s public schools before studying for her doctorate, talks about how schools form character and how school choice helps them do it.

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'Such a blessing'

A Milwaukee mom’s take on why more parents need educational choice

August 16, 2022 - Elita Williams is the heart of a bustling home in Milwaukee’s Sherman Park neighborhood. She and her husband preside over a household of six children plus extended family, three dogs and a cat. In addition to managing the comings and goings of her active family, she’s a teacher’s assistant at nearby Milwaukee Math and Science Academy. “I’ve been working with the second-graders for about six years now. And I love my job. I love working with the kids,” she says.

The children in her blended family of three boys and three girls are ages 6, 8, 9, 10, 13 and 14. All attend Milwaukee College Prep, a K3-8 public charter school open to all children who live in the city of Milwaukee.

Elita’s oldest child, Brielle King, will be a freshman in the fall at Milwaukee Lutheran High School through the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program. Brielle likes to play volleyball, dance, write and do a little math. She’s a bit uncertain about what high school will be like. “I’ve gone to Milwaukee College Prep from K4 to eighth for my entire life, so switching is going to be something new for me. But hopefully, it'll be OK,” she says.

Elita and Brielle recently sat down for a Q&A with veteran journalist Marilyn Krause to talk about the benefits to their family of being able to choose a school and education program for the children and the key role the choice program plays in providing access and funding to attend a private school. 

Q: Elita, what made you choose to enroll your children in a charter school (Milwaukee College Prep) rather than traditional public schools?

Elita: I was actually introduced to Milwaukee College Prep by the kids’ dad. His niece and nephew went there. I was young and inexperienced as a mom, so I relied a lot on his side of the family during that time. My mom and dad were both living out of town, so it was really just me learning and coasting and trying to figure it out.

Q: Why do you think it’s important for parents to be able to choose where their children attend school or to have impact on their education — what they’re learning and how they’re learning it?

Elita: I think because everybody deserves a chance to actually do something for their children or at least feel like they’re doing something that’s best for them.

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Video

A Successful school journey

Elita Williams is a Milwaukee mom with five kids attending Milwaukee College Prep, a charter school, and a sixth who’s about to begin attending Milwaukee Lutheran High School, a private school that participates in the parental choice program.

Williams says that having access to options like charter and choice schools have made all the difference for her kids, providing them with opportunities to grow academically and pursue their interests. Her daughter Brielle King says she’s been happy with the school choices she’s made, recognizing that a lot of students don’t have the same opportunity.

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Badger Institute in the News

WISN Radio talk host Vicki McKenna talked with Badger institute Managing Editor Mark Lisheron on Aug. 17 about his report on crime in the Milwaukee Public Schools. Listen here (segment begins at 23:30).

WTMJ Radio’s Jeff Wagner on Aug. 15 discussed the Badger Institute’s report on the daily police calls to Milwaukee Public Schools. Listen here.

At A Glance

Source: State Policy Network: Should Sates Recognize Out-of-State Job Licenses? American Voters Weigh In.

Weekly Survey: Can character formation in schools lead to better student outcomes?

Last Week's Results

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Badger Institute Annual Dinner

Join the Badger Institute on Tuesday, October 11, 2022 to celebrate 35 years of advancing freedom in Wisconsin at our Annual Dinner. The evening will feature keynote speaker Ed Feulner, co-founder and longtime president of The Heritage Foundation, one of the world's most influential think tanks.

Feulner will share remarks on vision and leadership, drawing on his experience at the helm of Heritage as the Foundation crafted many of President Reagan’s influential policies as well as those of subsequent executive administrations. He will also speak about the Institute's Mandate for Madison, our roadmap for Wisconsin citizens and leaders toward a freer and more prosperous future. 

The dinner will be hosted at the Wisconsin Club. Registration is now open and sponsorships are available (email Vice President Angela Smith). 

Wisconsin Troubling Tax Facts

Wisconsin Troubling Tax Fact #5: Wisconsin’s corporate income tax rate is higher than the top rates in all but 12 states and D.C.

(Watch next week’s Top Picks for more Troubling Tax Facts.)

Learn more here.

What We're Reading

• Daily Signal: Workers in These States Would Pay Most Under Biden’s New Business Tax
• Tax Policy Center: How The Senate-Approved Corporate Minimum Tax Works
• Jay Greene: Who will raise children? Their parents or the bureaucratic experts?

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