Gov. Scott Walker’s biennial budget proposal to expand private school vouchers in the state has already sparked criticism among state legislators, but the expansion could have a more local effect given one of the proposed districts for expansion is Madison.
Walker included the Madison Metropolitan School District in the potential expansion because it meets all three requirements for instituting private school vouchers within a district: it has at least 4,000 students, at least two of its schools are considered low performing and at least 20 current students in the district have expressed an interest in attending voucher schools, according to Julie Mead, a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor and department chair for the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis.
The Madison district currently has 13 K-12 schools that rank in the second-lowest performance grade, which qualifies the schools as underperforming. However, no school in the district received a failing grade.
The potential expansion has raised questions that have been heavily debated in the state legislature, Mead said.
One argument is the expansion would lead to a potential loss in taxpayer funding to Madison public schools, both because some previous public school funding would be allotted to private schools and public school enrollment would drop as students enroll in private schools. But advocates, such as School Choice Wisconsin, argue the expansion would allow Madison students to access the best education possible. However, she said there is no research that demonstrates the voucher program produces results better than the traditional public school system.
State Sen. Fred Risser, D-Madison, said he opposes voucher expansion in partly because of the lack of tangible academic results and partly because it could affect local public school funding.
“I think [an expansion] would be a terrible mistake,” Risser said. “Not only would it divert money from the public schools, but it’s [also] delivering an inferior education.”
Another source of conflict is the appropriation for taxpayer funding toward religious private schools. Opponents of voucher expansion question whether the program’s use of taxpayer money to fund religious schools violates the constitutional separation of church and state. But Mead explained that the U.S. Supreme Court has allowed such allocations under the federal constitution, because the ultimate decision on how to use the funds lies with the student’s parents and not the state.
State legislators are currently deciding on Walker’s voucher expansion plan outlined in his proposed budget.
