The Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, a non-profit organization, found school voucher program supporters spent nearly $10 million to support Wisconsin politicians over the last 10 years, according to a press release Monday.
The school voucher program has provided Milwaukee-area students vouchers to attend a private or religious school of their choice.
The Wisconsin Democracy Campaign reviewed voucher program supporters’ spending and found they spent $2.8 million on candidates and an additional $7 million in outside campaigning efforts, such as broadcast advertisements and negative mail. Much of the money went to Republican and conservative candidates statewide between 2003 and 2012.
Campaign contributions during the first 19 months of the 2011-’12 election cycle, in which Gov. Scott Walker and 13 state senators were up for recall, accounted for half of the $9.8 million in pro-voucher program support, according to the release.
In the 2013-’15 biennial budget, Walker proposed increasing the voucher program’s budget by $73 million and adding nine more school districts to the voucher program.
