The Parental Choice Program application process for this year was like an exclusive club: many wanted in, but few entered.

One hundred and seventy-one schools applied for the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program this year, the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction announced last week. Fifty-eight schools will join the program this fall.

"The number has been increasing over the years," said Joe Donovan, communications officer for DPI. "We've seen more students as well."

One hundred and twenty schools applied for the 2003-'04 school year, according to a DPI news release.

Donovan said he did not think this was a record number of applicants. Many of the schools that apply will not open their doors next fall, he said.

"It's important to note that this is the first step for schools," Donovan said.

The parental choice program uses state taxpayer money to pay for Milwaukee Public Schools students to enroll in private schools of their choice. There are currently 117 schools and about 14,000 students in the program, according to DPI.

Felice Green, a spokeswoman for School Choice Wisconsin, said the program is an opportunity for schools to provide quality education to low-income children.

This is the first year that the 9th grade of the Hope School has been in the program, according to Principal Tommie Myles.

"It's phenomenal," Myles said. "We've had an overwhelming response from everyone who's participated in it."

The school is going to add a grade to the program each year, working its way up to 12th grade.

Travis Technology High School has been a choice school for at least six years and is just expanding into a technology program this year, according to administrator Wilnekia Sanchez.

"Our school is for a specific population: it's for at-risk youngsters," Sanchez said. "So that's why we have the program here, because these students otherwise wouldn't have the money to go to school."

Kimberly Hardrick, principal of Hardrick's School, a new choice school, applied her school for the program because she felt change was needed. She is currently working at a choice school and said she felt the need for better education for the students of the area.

The number of schools applying could be seen two ways, Hardrick said.

"I think that it could be positive and it could be negative," Hardrick said. "If you're jumping on the bandwagon, then it's a negative. If you have the passion and the desire to see the students better educated, then it's a positive."

Myles said there must be a reason so many schools are applying for the choice program.

"I guess if the other schools were solid, there wouldn't be this response," Myles said.

Sanchez said the schools that apply need to be ready to participate in the program.

"These schools, private or otherwise, should be willing to participate in accountability practices," Sanchez said.

These new schools are applying for entry at a time when the state legislature is considering a bill that would lift the current enrollment cap of 15 percent for the school choice program, allowing 1,500 more students to participate next year.

"We fully expect the governor and the legislature to come to an agreement on that issue," Donovan said.

This article appeared in The Marquette Tribune on Mar. 17 2005.