Milwaukee's voucher program has failed to improve student achievement compared to similar students in public schools, according to UW-Madison professor John Witte in his fourth annual evaluation. Student test scores are lower in EAI schools than they were before EAI arrived, while scores in other Baltimore City schools have improved steadily. In addition, attendance in EAI-run schools has lagged behind the average in other city schools.
Private contractors are less accountable to the public and elected officials.
Private contractors are not required to open their records or decision making process to the public, and are usually not covered by open meeting laws or freedom of information laws. Private schools have no obligation to release student test scores, dropout rates or financial audits. Low wages and lax employee screening by security and bus companies have sometimes put children at risk. Observers point to analogies between education and the health care industry, which has been transformed by the dominance of for-profit companies. Education could face some of the same trade-offs if raising stock prices becomes more important than raising student achievement.