Some ten years ago an education hustler out of Atlanta by way of Houston, stood in my office , pitching a story to me about the new school he was planning to open, the Milwaukee Preparatory Academy. Students would wear dress clothes. The girls would wear skirts; the boys would wear ties. It would somehow be different, he said, and students would achieve. Parents would be happy. “Good luck to you,” I said, and asked how he would fund it, whether he would take any voucher or choice funds under the state’s new program. “No way,” he replied. “I would never take government money.”

A couple of years later he was picked up in Mississippi on an outstanding warrent from Wisconsin for defrauding the state’s Milwaukee Parental Choice program. The charges didn’t stick, but the state was out the $111,000 it had invested in the school. This wasn’t an isolated incident — it’s happened many times throughout the history of the choice program, the closing of Alex’s Academy just the latest example.

On the positive side, the Parental Choice program saved Messmer, the lone surviving Catholic school on Milwaukee’s north side, a positive development in the community, regardless of where you come down on the choice debate. It would, however, be interesting to find out how Brother Bob’s Messmer students are doing.

But Republicans who control the Legislature don’t want Brother Bob’s students to take the state’s standardized tests, and have refused to compromise on the issue, even though compromising on accountability and standards for choice schools would ensure that the enrollment cap in the program is lifted and “parental choice” expands. Republicans Alberta Darling and Leah Vukmir have proposed to make testing optional for choice schools.

Gov. Jim Doyle’s “compromise” would require testing and lift the cap, but it also includes increased funding for other programs like SAGE [class size reduction program in public schools] that Republicans won’t support. Doyle will likely veto the Darling-Vukmir proposal if it passes; Republicans will reject the governor’s proposal.

Both sides say it’s about the children.

We say that most of what’s going on in Madison right now is about what sort of nastiness can be put in campaign ads in this year’s governor’s race. School choice supporters are already running ads to pressure Doyle.

As a parent who’s experienced public schools in Milwaukee that work far better than the perception and do an excellent job of encouraging high achievment in students, I can say our kids deserve better from our elected officials. Messmer parents, most of whom are likewise pleased with the education their children are receiving, should be saying the same.