Viewpoints on voucher ruling

• News and background on the Milwaukee voucher program
• State Supreme Court rules voucher expansion is constitutional

Voucher cost is high

By Dr. Russell Allen
WEAC researcher

Every taxpayer in Wisconsin should watch out for his or her pocket book over the next few years. Expansion of the Milwaukee private school voucher program to include religious schools is only the beginning. Supporters of vouchers have already said they will try to expand the program to include all “poor” children in Wisconsin. Once successful, they will then attempt to expand the program to every child attending a private school in Wisconsin.

That means that Wisconsin’s taxpayers may have to support 150,000 children who attend private schools, and perhaps the 17,000 children who are home-schooled. A voucher of $4,000 per student will cost taxpayers an additional $668 million each year (167,000 x $4,000 = $668 million). This can be paid for with significant tax increases or by taking the money from the existing public schools, as is being done with MPS. You can imagine the effect this second option would have on the state’s 426 public school districts, many of which already are strapped for funds because of the revenue caps.

In effect, we may end up with two systems of public education — the traditional system which is highly regulated by the state with numerous requirements for accountability (including promotional tests planned for grades 4 and 8 and a high school graduation exam) — and a second system of publicly-funded private schools, which is essentially free of any rules, regulations, or requirements for accountability.

We also may end up hurting the majority of children in this state — those who currently attend public schools.

Ruling hurts public schools

By Jeff Leverich
WEAC researcher

One of the major rationales pro-voucher advocates make is that private school vouchers will improve the public schools through heightened competition. But they fail to explain how public schools can improve when vouchers take money away from them to subsidize private schools.

Even as they lose students to the voucher program, public schools have fixed costs such as maintenance and must bear the high cost of special needs students, whom private schools often won’t accept.

Perhaps the real goal is to create a system of state-subsidized private and religious schools — not to improve the achievement of low-income students. The Legislature needs to assess the impact on public schools.

At the rate we are going, and without protections for our public schools, we will soon be using our tax dollars to privatize our state’s vibrant, democratic system of public schooling right out of existence.

Other viewpoints

The New York Times

The Wisconsin decision, if upheld by the United States Supreme Court, would have a devastating impact on public education nationwide. Many states will follow the Wisconsin example, given the power of the religious lobbies. Parents will essentially be left to choose between a state-supported private education system and the old public school system. As more families opt out of the public schools, those schools will starve. The downward spiral is easy to map. The question now is whether the U.S. Supreme Court will have the wisdom to see that vouchers attack not only constitutional principles but the common schools that are essential institutions for a democratic society.

Raleigh News & Observer

A ruling such as this, if upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court, could breach important walls that separate church and state and prevent one from infringing on the other. These advocates, so gleeful now, forget that the walls were built by America’s founders not to sanctify the state, but to encourage religious freedom. And beyond the threat to a constitutional bedrock is another threat — to the future of public education. ... Voucher systems would drain money, and the crucial resource of interested parents, from the public systems. The result ... would likely be anemic public schools depleted of many good students and the resources to help those who are left.

Madison Capital Times

Wisconsin has lost a distinctive part of its heritage and put at risk the quality of its public education system for the future. A 4-2 majority on the state Supreme Court decided to celebrate the 150th year of the state’s constitution by trampling on the section that protects the separation of church and state. ... The Wisconsin Constitution says very clearly in Section 18 of Article I that no one shall “be compelled to attend, erect or support any place of worship, or to maintain any ministry, without consent ... nor shall any money be drawn from the treasury for the benefit of religious societies, or religious or theological seminaries.”

... But this decision goes beyond what may seem like an abstract — but vitally important — principle of not compelling anyone to financially support another person’s religious beliefs. It also goes to the future of public education in Wisconsin. It shifts badly needed tax dollars away from the public school system and puts them into religious schools. In the process, it undermines the public system that serves the vast majority of students in Milwaukee. And don’t think for a minute that the impact of this decision is limited to Milwaukee. The forces pushing the legal battle in this case would like to see religious school choice expanded statewide.

The citizens of the future will be the big losers from this ruling. They will live in a state where religious tensions will once again bubble up and where strong schools that bring together and educate children from all backgrounds have dwindled into a weakened, balkanized system. That’s the tragedy of the court’s decision. Opponents have already indicated that they will appeal the ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court. That’s one avenue to prevent this tragedy. The only other way is to elect a new governor and a new Legislature and, eventually, a new Supreme Court.

Posted August 31, 1998