The New York Post gives us the latest on school choice in Wisconsin:

FIFTEEN years ago this week, Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson signed into law the nation’s first urban school-choice program, letting poor parents use public funds to choose their children’s schools.

The state’s poorest children were locked into a failing public-school system in Milwaukee where one-third of the children were failing all of their classes and fewer children could expect to graduate than in any other major city in America. So a conservative small-town governor joined with Rep. Polly Williams, an African-American Democrat and Jesse Jackson supporter, to build a narrow bipartisan majority to give Milwaukee’s families a new choice and a new hope for their children’s future.

Over 15 years, the merits of the Milwaukee program have been argued by academics, litigated by lawyers and both promoted and pummeled by politicians. Looking back, some clear lessons appear:

The Market Works: Markets encourage innovative products to meet consumers’ needs while flushing out poorly run businesses and inferior products. In 15 years, the Milwaukee program has grown from an experiment involving 341 children attending seven private schools to a well-established program of around 15,000 poor children attending nearly 120 private schools. Next year, more than 170 private schools hope to participate, reaching or exceeding the cap limiting scholarships to 15 percent of public-school students….

Competition Improves Public Schools: Former Superintendent Spence Korte has credited choice with providing the pressure he needed to force long-needed changes within the public school system. “Like many other monopolistic operations, you get a little complacent when you’re the only game in town,” he said. “We needed to be able to compete, to really get better.” Present Superintendent Bill Andrekopoulus has said that this “competitive nature has raised the bar for educators in Milwaukee to provide a good product or know that parents will simply walk.”

Test scores have climbed each year from 1997 to 2004 in 12 of 15 grade and subject areas. Harvard economist Caroline Hoxby has found that the more competition a public school faces in Milwaukee from private school choice, the greater its academic improvement.

Parents and Voters Like Choice: Each year, thousands seek to enter Milwaukee’s school-choice program. Polls show 60 percent of voters statewide back school choice and support nears 80 percent in some of Milwaukee’s poorest neighborhoods. The program is popular with taxpayers because it saves money — one credible estimate places property taxpayer savings at more than $100 million.

In other words, school choice works, and it helps most minorities and the poor.