The state granted $4.48 billion to public and private school districts this year, an increase of 2.1 percent from last year’s grant, according to a Thursday press release.
Department of Public Instruction spokesperson Tom McCarthy said in the statement 220 of Wisconsin’s 424 public school districts will see an increase in aid totaling $85.5 million. The agency granted additional money to private and voucher schools.
Funding for Milwaukee voucher schools increased to $191 million this year, an addition made possible by a $61.1 million decrease in aid to Milwaukee public schools and a supplemental $129.9 million state grant, DPI spokesman John Johnson told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, attributed the increase in funding to money the state saved as a result of the implementation of Wisconsin’s collective bargaining restrictions.
“Our responsible budgeting has allowed us to invest in our priorities while protecting the taxpayers of this state, and we intend to keep moving Wisconsin in the right direction,” Fitzgerald said in the statement.
Senate Minority Leader Chris Larson, D-Milwaukee, said in a statement he was disappointed to see state funds taken away from public schools for the benefit of voucher programs.
“Gov. Walker and Republican legislators have been cutting investments in our local schools and handing them to voucher schools that aren’t accountable to our communities, our families, or our children,” Larson said in the statement. “Even worse, they have been performing this charade while making the largest cuts to public education in state history, cutting more support per student than any other state in the nation.”
