Students Receiving Private-School Vouchers about to Cross 30,000.
Tuesday, December 9th, 2014 -- 9:30 AM
(Milwaukee Journal Sentinel) -The total number of students receiving private-school tuition vouchers in Wisconsin is about to cross the 30,000 threshold.The three voucher programs in Milwaukee, Racine and statewide enroll 29,683 students, according to results of the official state headcount in September.
That makes Wisconsin a leading state when it comes to the number of students attending private, mostly religious schools with the help of taxpayer-funded tuition subsidies.
To put it in local terms: If those private schools were a public school system, it would be the second largest in Wisconsin after Milwaukee Public Schools, topping the Madison Metropolitan School District, which enrolls just over 27,000 students this year.
Voucher program enrollment has grown rapidly under Gov. Scott Walker and the Republican-controlled Legislature. Walker and other lawmakers have already signaled that further expanding voucher programs, in which qualifying students receive a taxpayer-paid tuition voucher to attend private schools, will be a priority in the next legislative session that starts January 5th.
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