This book details the unintended financial and performance consequences of governance fragmentation resulting from Milwaukee’s private school voucher policy. It examines this policy through the lens of public administration, presenting a framework on how to reassert democratic accountability in complex public-private governance networks.

Chapter 1: The Evolution of Milwaukee School Choice Policy: From Bold Experiment to Status Quo Chapter 2: The Path to Fragmentation: How Voucher Policy Changed other Parts of Milwaukee’s Education Landscape Chapter 3: School Failure in the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program Chapter 4: Milwaukee Voucher School Leaders’ Views on Accountability: What Are They, and Why do They Matter? Chapter 5: The Long-term Impact of Vouchers on MPS Finances and Enrollment Chapter 6: The MPCP and Student Achievement: What We Have Studied, and What We Need to Study Chapter 7: The Politics of School Vouchers in Milwaukee Chapter 8: A Parallel or Complementary School System? Chapter 9: Moving Milwaukee Forward: A Meta-Governance Solution Chapter 10: Lessons from the Milwaukee Voucher Experience

At a time when national interest in school vouchers and school choice is very high, there are valuable lessons to learn from Milwaukee, which has the oldest and most impactful voucher program in the United States. Mike Ford is an excellent person to teach those lessons. In this book, he provides a clear-eyed, knowledgeable, realistic, and insightful examination of the record and results of the voucher program, along with provocative thoughts on what public policy lessons it teaches.