RACINE — Public school officials called vouchers "morally wrong" and potentially "crippling" for Racine at a press conference Thursday.
A school choice voucher program in Racine would cost taxpayers money while hurting the academic chances of public school students, officials said during the afternoon press conference at Walden middle and high school, 1012 Center St. The press conference was held in response to a proposal from Gov. Scott Walker to expand Milwaukee’s school choice voucher program, which allows low-income Milwaukee students to receive state-funded vouchers to attend participating private schools. Walker has proposed removing the low-income requirement while also expanding the program to other cities.
Public school officials who spoke in Racine Thursday think that’s a bad idea.
"School vouchers have been called ‘a dagger in the heart of public education’ and I think there’s some truth to that," Racine Unified Superintendent Jim Shaw said at the conference. He explained vouchers take needed funds away from public schools — when a child leaves a school with a voucher about $6,000 in per pupil state aid to that school leaves with them to pay for private school tuition.
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Such a funding loss hurts the students who remain in public schools, Shaw said, adding the students using the vouchers don’t even benefit much academically.
A years-long study comparing the academic progress of Milwaukee voucher school students with similar Milwaukee Public School students found little difference between the two groups. A March 2011 report on the study shows voucher school students are more likely to graduate but perform academically about the same as MPS students.
The report also shows vouchers save the government money but State Superintendent Tony Evers said they cost taxpayers more.
"Even if you think regardless of the evidence that vouchers are OK, I want you to think of this: Vouchers will increase property taxes 15 percent," he told the about 50 people at the Thursday press conference. Evers said the increase comes because students currently in private schools can get vouchers and take money from public schools without taking students. "It’s not going to be this outflow of students (from Racine Unified). It will be students in private schools in Racine. That will be money from the Racine Unified School District...That’s how it played out in Milwaukee."
Vouchers are "morally wrong," said Evers. They are "crippling," according to Don Nielsen, a Racine Unified school board member.
Supporters disagree
A 15 percent tax increase is "ridiculous," said Mike Ford, vice president of operations for School Choice Wisconsin, a nonprofit that supports voucher expansion among other types of parental school choice. Ford said students already in private schools are not eligible for vouchers and a Racine voucher program would start small with only a handful of eligible schools. Those things would make large tax increases unlikely, he said.
Ford added taking money from public schools for private-school-bound students they no longer have to educate makes sense, especially considering the much higher graduation rate voucher schools have seen in Milwaukee: 94 percent compared to 74 percent for MPS students.
"That’s something we are fighting for," he said.
