Voucher School Trouble. Again.

Even the shining stars of Milwaukee's voucher program can fall. Take the Harambee Community School, for example, which has been a part of the program for 15 years. Yesterday, protesting late paychecks and an expanding web of lies, teachers walked out:

School officials said about six teachers walked out, but Reed put the number at between 20 and 25.

No classes were canceled, and a school official described the disruption as minimal. School staff could be heard directing classes inside the building at 110 W. Burleigh St., and one group of students marched off for recreational activities in the day's final hour of classes.

But the walkout indicates additional problems are simmering inside the pioneering and once highly regarded school, which enrolls roughly 380 students in kindergarten through eighth grade.

In December, the state revoked the license of a child care facility associated with the school. In January, the former chief financial officer was charged with embezzling up to $750,000 in school money.

Teachers have complained of late paychecks in the past. Last year, the school dismissed its principal and a large number of teachers.

Again, I don't want to make the blanket claim that all MPS schools are squeaky clean, but with them, at least, there is much greater leverage and accountability when things go wrong. Plus, MPS paychecks never show up late. If you recall, one of the biggest problems at Academic Solutions is that they stopped paying their teachers, and the teachers stopped coming to work, leaving the kids to watch DVDs and riot in the hallways. (Keep an eye on Riverwest Currents; I'm sure they'll do much better reporting on this story than the daily, but probably not until next week.)

And speaking of not coming to work, the broke and busted Learning Enterprise organization shut down everything but its choice school this week, since it won't pay teachers any more. Meaning, of couse, that several hundred non-voucher kids will be dropped into MPS schools--with twelve weeks left in the school year!--accompanied by zero dollars, seeing as how the $1.7 million MPS paid Learning Enterprise has already evaporated. The voucher kids can stay, though, since there's a final state disbursement of funds coming in May. Love that gravy train!