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"We had hoped the Court would review this case," said NEA President Bob Chase. "Every day, the voucher plan does more damage to the Milwaukee Public Schools, and the city's taxpayers are paying the tab."

The voucher program has already stripped the Milwaukee Public Schools of $25 million in state aid, Chase said, and the city is now poised to enact a "voucher tax" -- in the form of increased property taxes -- to avoid program cuts and larger class sizes in the city's schools.

"This year alone, the Milwaukee Public Schools will lose $25 million in taxpayer dollars to the coffers of private and religious schools," said Chase. Each of the city's 5,902 voucher students takes $4,894 in state aid from the city's schools -- even though only 1,379 of them ever previously attended Milwaukee public schools. "That's just plain wrong, and it punishes every student attending the public schools," said Chase.

Under state law, the Milwaukee Public Schools have the authority to increase the property tax levy to recoup the $25 million loss. The city's school board is now considering this so-called "voucher tax," which would cost the owner of a $100,000 home an additional $141 per year.

Chase also pointed out that the official study of the eight-year-old Milwaukee program showed no measurable improvement in academic performance among voucher students when compared with the city's public school students.

"Vouchers will not 'reform' our public schools," Chase said. "They will only serve to weaken them. Rather than spending precious public tax dollars on private and religious schools for a small group of children, we should be spending those same dollars on proven reforms that produce lasting educational improvement for all students."

Chase suggested expanding the highly successful experimental program that has reduced class sizes for more than 2,400 students in Milwaukee's public schools for less than $5 million. Students in the smaller public school classes are academically out-performing voucher students and other public school students in reading.

"There are many reasons why the Supreme Court might choose not to review a particular case, and whatever the Court's reason in this instance, it's important to note that it does not reflect agreement or disagreement with the Wisconsin ruling, nor does it have any precedential impact outside of Wisconsin," said NEA General Counsel Robert H. Chanin, lead counsel in the case.

Last June the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled 4-2 in Jackson v. Benson that Milwaukee's voucher program -- expanded in 1995 to include religious schools -- did not violate the state or federal constitution because it does not promote religion.

The petition asked the court to review whether the Milwaukee voucher program violated the Establishment Clause of the United States Constitution, and specifically whether the Wisconsin decision conflicts with the Court's 1973 Nyquist decision. In that case, the Court struck down a New York voucher program for low-income, private school students.

"We believe the Wisconsin Supreme Court was wrong," said Chanin, "and NEA and its affiliates will continue legally to oppose these types of voucher programs and any other efforts to use public funds for religious schools wherever they arise, on both state and federal constitutional grounds."

NEA and its affiliates were among the primary sponsors of the legal challenge to the Milwaukee voucher program.

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