Photograph; Mike De Sisti | Students from St. Anthony School in Milwaukee perform before Gov. Scott Walker spoke at an event that drew at least 400 people, including dozens of children from private voucher schools, public charter schools and Milwaukee Public Schools.

By Lydia Mulvany | Originally Published at Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. October 29, 2013

Nearly four-fifths of the more than 500 students receiving taxpayer-funded subsidies to attend private schools through a new statewide voucher initiative were not previously attending public school, the state Department of Public Instruction said in a release Tuesday.

Of the students receiving vouchers in the $3.2 million Wisconsin Parental Choice Program, 73%, or 371 students, attended a private school last year, 21%, or 106, went to a public school and the rest were either home-schooled, came from out of state or were not in school at all, such as incoming kindergartners.

The percentage of students in the program already attending a private school was higher than the 67% the state projected in August.

Public school students do not receive priority over other types of students in the statewide program according to the legislation governing the program, DPI spokesman John Johnson said. Siblings of students who received vouchers do get preference, he said.

The 6% bump between private school students who applied for vouchers and those who received them may be due to the fact that a student who’s already at a private school is more likely to accept a voucher than a student who has to change schools or attend a new school, Johnson speculated.

A total of 33 families that were offered vouchers rejected them. Those vouchers went to students on a waiting list.

Private schools with the highest enrollment were in Appleton and Green Bay-De Pere, each with 53 students. Oshkosh schools enrolled 49 students; Wisconsin Rapids, 43; and Eau Claire-Altoona, 37. The schools receive more than $6,000 for each student in the program, or less depending on the school’s cost per student, which is determined by a DPI auditor.

According to the DPI, 2,415 students had applied to attend 48 schools that wanted to participate in the statewide program. Only the top 25 schools with the most applicants were awarded vouchers.

“The good news is that 500 students were given the opportunity to participate in the program,” said Jim Bender, president of School Choice Wisconsin, a group that advocates for the expansion of voucher programs. “The bad news is that nearly 2,000 students, including hundreds of public school transfers, were turned away.”

Rep. Sondy Pope (D-Middleton) said in a statement that it was “unacceptable” that the state has subsidized private schools over public schools for two budget seasons.

“Asking public schools to do more with less while increasing the amount of tax dollars unaccountable, low-achieving private voucher schools receive will not address the economic and social woes of our state. It’s time we try a different plan,” she said.

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