The Cleveland voucher program is officially called the Cleveland Scholarship and Tutoring Program and provides state funding to help primarily low-income children in kindergarten through the eighth grade attend private schools in Cleveland or to attend public schools in districts adjacent to the Cleveland school district. The voucher program was implemented in the 1996–97 school year, and only private schools have participated in it. Students new to the program generally start in kindergarten through the third grade and may have previously attended a public or a private school or never attended school. In June 2000, the Cleveland program had about 3,400 voucher students enrolled in 52 private schools, which received about $5.2 million in publicly funded voucher payments for the 1999–2000 school year. By comparison, the Cleveland school district in 1999–2000 had about 76,000 students enrolled in its 121 schools supported by $712 million in total revenues. In Cleveland, actual voucher payments follow the student to the school attended, even when he or she changes schools. Voucher checks are made out to the student’s parent or guardian and require endorsement before the school can use the funds. These funds are sent to the participating schools in two payments. Prior to payment, a voucher payment report is generated for each participating school listing all current voucher students. Each school verifies this report as accurate or updates it before it is sent to the Ohio Department of Education’s School Finance Division to be processed for payment. For low-income voucher students, the voucher amount is limited to 90 percent of school tuition up to a maximum of $2,250. For those voucher students who do not come from low-income families, the voucher amount is limited to 75 percent of school tuition up to a maximum of $1,875. Any payments sent to a voucher school are proportionately reduced if a student is not enrolled in the school for the entire period covered by the scheduled voucher payment. About 90 percent of the Cleveland voucher schools are religious schools. The constitutionality of providing state-funded vouchers for attendance at religious schools has been challenged in the courts since the program’s inception. In December 2000, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled that the program is unconstitutional because it has the effect of advancing religion, and that the program constitutes an endorsement of religion and sectarian education in violation of the first amendment. Subsequently, the court of appeals decided that the program could continue operating while interested parties seek U.S. Supreme Court review of the court of appeals’ ruling. Two teams have conducted research on the academic achievement of students in Cleveland’s voucher program. The first was the contract researcher, a team from Indiana University, which was contracted by the Ohio Department of Education to conduct a multiyear evaluation of the program. The second team, supported by Harvard University’s Program on Education Policy and Governance (Harvard researchers), conducted its own studies. The contract research team analyzed students’ academic achievement in school years 1996–97 and 1997–98, the first 2 years of the voucher program. The Harvard team reanalyzed the contract researcher team’s data for the first year and 1996–97 data from two additional private schools participating in the voucher program. The Milwaukee voucher program, officially called the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program, provides state funding exclusively for low-income children in Milwaukee to attend private schools and was first implemented in the 1990–91 school year. Wisconsin initially limited participation to nonsectarian private schools, but amended the program to include religious schools in 1995. For the 1994–95 school year, 771 full-time equivalent voucher students attended 12 nonreligious schools. Following legal challenges to the 1995 program revision permitting religious school participation, the Wisconsin Supreme Court upheld the revision in 1998, and program enrollment tripled when Milwaukee voucher students began attending religious schools in 1998–99 school year. Subsequently, the U.S. Supreme Court chose not to hear an appeal of the Wisconsin Supreme Court decision that the program did not violate the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. In school year 1998–99, nearly three- quarters of the participating schools were religious. Currently, students new to the program may start in kindergarten through the 12th grade if, in the year prior to enrolling, they attended a Milwaukee public school; a Milwaukee private school in kindergarten, first, second, or third grade; or never attended school anywhere. In the 1999–2000 school year, the Milwaukee program had 7,621 voucher students enrolled in 91 schools, which received about $38.9 million in publicly funded voucher payments. The Milwaukee school district in 1999–2000 had about 105,000 students enrolled in 165 schools supported by $917 million in total revenues. The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction makes voucher payments in four installments during the school year. Similar to Ohio’s program, the voucher check is payable to the voucher family. The Department mails the checks to the schools where the parent or guardian endorses them to the schools. If the school cannot obtain a signature because, for example, the student is no longer enrolled, it returns the check to the Department. The school keeps the lesser of the voucher amount or an amount equal to their per-pupil operating and debt service costs as determined by an independent financial audit. Because a school’s actual costs may be less than the maximum allowable payment, and because of other factors that may require adjustments to payments—such as audited enrollment reports—the Department makes adjustments after the completion of the school year. Schools with lower costs must return excess payments, and schools that gain students receive an additional amount. Wisconsin has required the Department of Public Instruction and the Legislative Audit Bureau to evaluate the voucher program. The Department contracted with an independent researcher to conduct an evaluation over the first 5 years of the program. The evaluation focused on students’ academic achievement, at a time when student and private school participation was limited to less than one-tenth of what it was in 1999–2000 and was limited to nonreligious schools. The evaluation was terminated at the end of school year 1994–95, and data on students’ characteristics have not been collected for an evaluation since then, nor has student academic achievement been evaluated. Three teams conducted research on Milwaukee’s voucher program during its early years: (1) the contract researchers, a group of investigators affiliated with the Department of Political Science and the Robert M. La Follette Institute of Public Affairs, University of Wisconsin–Madison; (2) the Harvard team that also conducted research on the Cleveland program; and (3) a researcher affiliated with Princeton University. All three teams used the data set on Milwaukee voucher and public school students and parents created by the contract researcher team. All three teams also analyzed students’ academic achievement as measured by scores on the Iowa Test of Basic Skills administered by the Milwaukee school district in school years 1990–91 to 1993–94. In addition to the Cleveland and Milwaukee voucher programs, state- funded voucher programs operate in Florida, Maine, and Vermont. Although not an integral part of this review, some information on these three additional state programs is provided to help put the Cleveland and Milwaukee programs in a more complete context of publicly funded voucher programs. The Florida voucher program began operating in the 1999–2000 school year. The program provides a private school choice to students whose public schools have been judged by the state as failing. The Maine and Vermont programs have been operating for more than 100 years and provide for the private, secular education of students whose public school districts do not have sufficient school capacity. More detail on the Florida, Maine, and Vermont voucher programs is provided in appendix II. Although not a direct sponsor of voucher programs, the federal government in the past has sponsored research into alternative educational programs, including a voucher program operated in a public school system. The National Institute of Education sponsored research on an education voucher demonstration program begun during the 1972–73 school year in six schools of the Alum Rock Union Elementary School District of San Jose, California. In this demonstration, parents could choose from among these six public schools and receive a voucher equal to the cost of the child’s education at that school. The voucher amount was paid to the chosen school when the child enrolled. After a 5-year implementation period, an evaluation found little difference in the benefits to students of the voucher and regular school programs. The U.S. Department of Education is considering funding a grant to study Florida’s school accountability system, which may include the voucher program and its effect on improving school quality. In accordance with state laws and regulations for student and school participation in the Cleveland and Milwaukee voucher programs, both programs target students from low-income families residing within the city or school district. Income eligibility is determined by comparing applicant family income to federal poverty guidelines. Participating private schools must be located within the city or school district, comply with state requirements for private schools—such as those covering health and safety—and randomly select students when applications exceed available slots. In the Cleveland voucher program, an eligible student must reside within the Cleveland school district. Generally, first-time program enrollees must be in kindergarten or grades one, two, or three. Priority for a voucher award is given to students from families whose income is less than 200 percent of federal poverty guidelines. However, the state determines the number of new vouchers that will be awarded each year within the limitations of the amount of annual program funds appropriated. Any student who has received a voucher in the preceding year may continue to receive one until the student has completed grade eight. Assuming students’ residency requirements are maintained, school admission priority is given to students who were enrolled in the school during the preceding year and to siblings of these students, at the school’s discretion.