UNDATED (WSAU) Wisconsin’s public school superintendent is blasting the idea of letting Green Bay kids attend private schools with tax-funded vouchers. Tony Evers said lawmakers should remove from the measure from the new state budget.
On Friday night, the Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee voted to expand the state’s voucher program to Green Bay, if just over five-thousand people in the school district sign petitions saying they want it. On Thursday the finance panel voted to expand Milwaukee’s 20-year-old voucher program to Racine. And they raised family income limits and dropped enrollment caps for kids in the Milwaukee choice program. Evers said more public input should have been gathered in Racine and Green Bay before lawmakers acted.
Critics of the voucher program say its takes away state funding from public schools. Evers says that – plus a general cut in state school aid – is “wrong” and will have massive effects for all of Wisconsin. The full Legislature is expected to act on the budget next week. The two-year budget is scheduled to take effect July first.
