Walker, State GOP Attempting to Defund Public Schools, Panel Argues

State Republican lawmakers and Gov. Scott Walker are systemically attempting to defund public schools in Wisconsin, a panel led by Rep. Sandy Pasch said Sunday afternoon. 

The forum, hosted by progressive group Grassroots Northshore at Shorewood's North Shore Presbyterian Church, fielded about 65 and cast a bleak forecast of funding of pubic schools under Walker's 2013-15 budget proposal.

The governor’s budget includes a freeze of the revenue limit for pubic school districts, a slight increase in state aid, and an expansion of the voucher system to nine schools in Milwaukee and Waukesha, allowing students to attend private schools in lieu of underperforming public schools. It also includes additional funding for high-performing districts. 

"The budget is really cruel to people who are merely getting by, people who care about education," said Pasch, a Democrat from Shorewood. "It loves roads. The budget increases spending $6.4 billion in transportation, but it isn't public transportation, it's road building and bonding.

"But when we look at what happens to education, this governor froze spending for all public school districts, while increasing spending for voucher programs by $94 million."

Expansion of the voucher school program

Under the voucher program, public school students can attend a private school, bringing with them the funding the public school would have received.

The voucher school programs is a way to move education dollars from public schools to private schools, said panelist Barbara Miner, who is an educational writer, author of Lessons from the Heartland, and former journalist with the Milwaukee Journal.

Miner summarized five things she said everyone should know about vouchers:

• Above all, vouchers are a way to funnel public tax dollars out of public education, and into private schools.
• Despite a veneer of bipartisan support, vouchers are a nationwide Republican agenda.
• Voucher schools are defined as private schools, even if all of the students attending receive a publicly funded voucher.
• If the voucher program were to be looked at as a district of school system, it would be the third largest in the state, just behind Madison.
• The right to a public education, as outlined in the state constitution, is infringed on by the voucher program.

“The bottom line is, if you want to improve our public schools, you fix them, do not abandon them,” Miner said. “And vouchers, pure and simple, are an abandonment.”

Minor said Milwaukee Public Schools this year lost nearly $54 million, and Racine $1.2 million in state aid through the voucher program.

Additionally, background checks on staff and licensed teachers are not required at private schools, and they are not required to comply with open meeting, record laws, and don't have to honor state statutes on discrimination. 

Parent advocate Tracy Hedman, working with the group Stop Special-Needs Vouchers, said the budget includes voucher programs for students with disabilities. She said private schools aren't subject to the provision under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, which requires a school have a special individualized education plan to meet their unique needs, among other provisions.

"The child and the parent loses all of their rights (under IDEA) and legal protections," she said. 

She said often private schools will take children with minor disabilities, leaving students with moderate or significant disabilities in the public school systems, "which essentially has been drained of funding and resources."

Walker has said his priority is funding of public schools, but in underperforming districts he wants to provide an alternative for parents under the voucher program, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

The state of funding for public schools

Cheryl Maranto — a Whitefish Bay School Board member and Marquette University professor — said there were Draconian cuts in funding of public education to the tune of $1.6 billion two years ago. In Whitefish Bay, the district has been able to maintain programs because it has been forced to put the cuts on the back of teachers, cutting their take-home pay under the provisions of Act 10. 

"We have been under the revenue cap since 1993, there is no more fat, so we really need more money, in order to save the quality of our schools," she said. 

The budget does include a $129 million increase in state aid to public schools, but Maranto said with the revenue limit frozen, it doesn't allow districts to spend a penny more. 

"Effectively, zero additional money under the current proposed budget goes to education, but what it does is fund property tax relief," Maranto said. "Last I knew, public education was supposed to be about educating children and not funding property tax relief."

She said there's no proof voucher schools do a better job of educating students. Studies have shown either no impact or a decline in the quality of education when moving a student to a voucher school, Maranto said. Additionally, under Walker's proposal, voucher schools would receive more revenue per-pupil than public schools.

Pasch said there are a few Republican state lawmakers who have concerns about the funding of public schools and expansion of the voucher program, and she has organized a petition drive to stop the voucher expansion.