Our public schools have always been the cornerstone of what makes Wisconsin great. We have consistently invested in our public schools, supported our students and valued our teachers. Recently, however, lawmakers at the Capitol are tearing down more than a century of pro-education policy by syphoning funding to vouchers for private schools. Assembly Bill 1, or AB1, was the first bill introduced this session in the Wisconsin State Assembly. The bill puts in place a state oversight board for public schools, pilfering oversight ability for local districts and centralizing it to politicians at the Capitol. Most drastically, the bill allows public schools with low test scores to eventually be converted to private voucher schools. Vouchers undermine our historically excellent public education system by raiding funding for public schools for private schools at the expense of students and taxpayers.
Private voucher schools do not outperform public schools – they have either kept pace or underperformed their public school counterparts. Let’s keep in mind that in every legislative session since Gov. Scott Walker’s administration, the voucher program has been expanded. State standardized test scores between 2011-14 show that in Racine and Milwaukee, the two cities where vouchers have been most widely implemented, public school students have consistently outperformed private school students every year. A Public Policy Forum study came to same conclusion. This is an especially remarkable feat, considering that we have cut the most amount of education funding per pupil since 2008, next only to Alabama. Our investment per student has dropped an astonishing 15.3 percent since 2008.
Additionally, the vast majority of taxpayer dollars for vouchers go to students already in private schools — more than 80 percent of students receiving private school vouchers had already been attending those schools before receiving vouchers. Private schools become problematic when we subsidize them with public funding because there is little oversight of private schools – they adhere to fewer regulations than public schools do. For example, they can hire whomever they please to teach, even if they have no training. It is nothing short of disturbing that Walker has slashed public assistance across the board, but has found a way to subsidize private schooling for the most wealthy.
The voucher program deepens disparities in achievement by favoring certain students over others. Private voucher schools often include entrance exams, mandatory fees, uniforms and more. Even with voucher money for tuition, private schools are not necessarily a feasible option for all Wisconsinites. The voucher programs also disproportionately affect young minority students. Last year, the net number of minority students in public schools in the United States surpassed the number of white students. That means that as we divert more money from public schools to fund private school vouchers, minority students are affected at a higher rate, and this rate will only increase in coming years. These disparities are so great, in fact, that the ACLU in Delaware filed a lawsuit against its state’s voucher policies as causing “resegregation.”
It’s ironic that Republicans argue the need to decentralize government and give power back to localities, but when it comes to AB1, they are eager to centralize power to politicians in the Capitol. Local administration members in school districts are educated experts on policy and their specific local district, and there is no evidence to support that giving a state committee the ability to standardize oversight is beneficial to students. The committee is largely made up of partisan lawmakers, with the governor getting two appointments and leadership from the state Senate and state Assembly each getting one. There is absolutely no justification for coopting public education into partisan politics.
Private school vouchers are one piece of a much larger systemic attack on public schools. It is sad and distressing to see our strong public schools that have been the envy of the nation dismantled with funding cuts, vouchers and a devaluation of teachers. This should not be a partisan issue. Investing in public schools has always been a priority of lawmakers on both sides of aisle, but Republican lawmakers now seem to value private schools’ success over the success of Wisconsin students.
August McGinnity-Wake ([email protected]) is a freshman majoring in political science and economics.
Read the counterpoint from the College Republicans:
Point counterpoint: Private schools spur competition, increase acheivement
