Wisconsin Democrats are criticizing the renewal of a Milwaukee Parental Choice Program proposed by Republicans that would increase the amount of state money flowing into private schools.

The program, which has been in place since the 1990-91 school year, allows students from a low-income background to attend private schools in the Milwaukee area, according to the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction’s website.

The private tuition is publicly funded by the state of Wisconsin. MPCP was recently expanded to the Racine area, and for the 2011-12 school year more than 100 private schools will participate in the program.

According to the DPI website, a student can qualify for the Parental Choice Program based on their current residency, their parents’ yearly income and where and if they were enrolled the previous year.

In the 2010-11 school year, the state aid granted for a student enrolled in the program was either $6,442 or the private school’s specific cost per student, whichever was less, the statement said.

In the 2010-11 school year, more than 20,000 students participated in the program, resulting in a cost to the state of more than $3 million, the statement said. Sixty percent of the cost was paid by the state, and the rest was covered by MPS.

“Yet again, [Republicans are] passing policies that benefit the rich at the expense of people who work for a living,” said Graeme Zielinski, spokesperson for the Democratic Party of Wisconsin. “They’re taking money from public schools and funneling it into private schools.”

Zielinski said Republicans in the state have been implementing massive cuts to public education institutions in the state in order to subsidize private schools. He added they have continuously tried to move public education in the state to a more privatized model, which he said was evident in their attempts to privatize the health care of school faculty in the state and privatize the UW System.

Proposals like this, Zielinski said, will hurt middle-class families who rely on the public education system.

In a June 2011 statement, President of School Choice Wisconsin Susan Mitchell said such proposals actually serve as a “huge victory” for Wisconsin and for all types of Wisconsin citizens.

“This is a game changer for Wisconsin-for the first time, parents outside Milwaukee will reap the benefits of educational choice,” Mitchell said.

Despite Zielinski’s accusations, the statement said Walker’s biennial budget, passed in June, dramatically expands MPCP “to include tens of thousands of working class and middle income families.”

According to the statement, Walker’s recent legislation creates a large increase in the family income qualifications, removes the cap on the number of students who can participate and an increase in the number of private school options for students throughout Wisconsin.

The Wisconsin Legislative Audit Bureau is currently conducting a five-year study on schools participating in the program with students first selected from the 2006-07 school year, according to a statement from the LAB. The study hopes to determine how MPCP affects academic achievement in students, the statement said.

Although the report is still pending, research shows that on nationally normed standardized testing, about three-fifths of students nationwide scored higher than students enrolled in MPCP, the statement said.