The Department of Public Instruction announced Monday that 98 private schools in Wisconsin applied to be a part of the state’s voucher school system.
Three of the 98 schools that applied are located in Dane County. But the Wisconsin Parental Choice Program, also known as School Choice, is one of multiple educational reforms supported in Gov. Scott Walker's proposed budget that has drawn criticism from public education supporters.
School Choice is a program that allows parents to use public funding to send their children to a private school instead of having to attend a local public school.
"[Giving] public funding to private schools represents continued attacks on public education," Madison school board member Thomas “TJ” Mertz said.
School Choice has primarily focused on public school systems in Milwaukee, where it started in 1990, and Racine, which adopted the program in 2011. Milwaukee runs the nation's oldest urban School Choice program.
"You can look at the programs in Milwaukee and Racine, and they have not shrunk. They have only grown," Mertz said.
While some think larger impacts may be felt around the state, communications director for Middleton-Cross Plains Area School District Perry Hibner said the program will have little impact on his district because only three of the 98 schools who registered for the program Monday are in Dane County.
Beyond School Choice, other aspects of the budget have elicited concerns from school officials. State Superintendent Tony Evers testified before the Joint Committee on Finance Tuesday, saying the recent budget’s expected cuts to K-12 education make it "unrealistic to expect schools to continue to provide the same quality of service with the same or less funding while costs continue to rise."
In 2013, the state Legislature created new per pupil aid levels for Wisconsin schools, which Evers said has not been sustained adequately because the budget proposes to lower them.
"In fact, there is a cut to schools in the first year with the elimination of the per pupil categorical aid," Evers said.
Per pupil spending levels pose major challenges for school districts, according to Ann Franke, director of curriculum and instruction for the Verona Area School District.
"Without additional aid, we will need to find other ways to cover those costs from our existing budget,” Franke said. “This will force us to make cuts in programming and staff."
Evers also criticized the budget’s school accountability proposal. While the superintendent said he believes transparency and public trust are important, he maintains proposed practices such as grading schools’ performances do not achieve that goal.
"The analogy from student grading to the school report cards just doesn't work," Evers said.
State Sen. Alberta Darling, R-River Hills, co-chair of the Joint Finance committee, supports the school accountability plan as one that gives access to educational opportunities.
“[School accountability] will help make sure Wisconsin school-aged children have access to the best educational opportunities for them-whether that is in a district run school, a public charter school, or a private school participating in a school choice program ,” said Darling in a statement after Senate Republicans unveiled the school accountability measure in January.
