For Immediate Release October 15, 2021 Contact: Jim Bender, School Choice Wisconsin [email protected]  414.319.9160 Brookfield, WI – The Department of Public Instruction released enrollment numbers today for all education sectors in Wisconsin for this fall. Here is the data from their press release: The state’s four private school parental choice programs (4) reported a combined third Friday of September 2021 headcount of 48,919. This was an increase of 6.6 percent over 2020. 4K headcount in the private school parental choice programs increased by 10.7 percent, kindergarten increased by 5.1 percent, and grades 1-12 were up by 6.5 percent. Independent charter…

School Choice Wisconsin (SCW) has named Nicholas Kelly to the position of president, effective immediately, said Susan Mitchell, acting president and board chair. Kelly joined SCW in July.  He formerly was the principal of St. Thomas More High School, a private school in Milwaukee that participates in Wisconsin’s parental choice programs. As a principal Mr. Kelly took a special interest in making his students feel part of the school community. Under his leadership St. Thomas More implemented a four-year servant leadership program, an after-school mentoring/tutoring program, and a social and emotional wellness program through student services. He took a holistic approach…

For Immediate Release Contact: Jim Bender, Government Affairs and Public Policy Consultant School Choice Wisconsin Brookfield, WI – The following is a statement from School Choice Wisconsin’s Government Affairs and Public Policy Consultant, Jim Bender on Governor Evers’ budget provision calling for the freezing of enrollment in the Parental Choice Programs: “There is a clear divide in education in Wisconsin today – not between public and private, but between open and closed. One small, but very influential camp, is utilizing resources to force kids to stay home, the other is working night and day to provide in-person instruction in a…

For Immediate Release Contact: Jim Bender, School Choice Wisconsin [email protected] 414.319.9160 Brookfield, WI – In celebration of National School Choice Week, School Choice Wisconsin is releasing an OnMessage statewide education poll that shows Wisconsin parents have a strong desire for educational flexibility during the COVID pandemic. School Choice Wisconsin commissioned the poll of 800 Wisconsin likely voters in the late fall of 2020 to collect reactions to school closures, enrollment options and other aspects of parental empowerment in education. Major findings: 62% want schools to be open with some form of in-person education. (Yesterday, the CDC released a study supporting…

Wisconsin Program Sees 37% Growth Enrollment for the Parental Choice Programs for 2019-20 show significant growth once again per DPI. Please see the tables below for headcount data and important information about DPI data releases meant to mislead the media/public with regards to prior year enrollment. “Year over year, the Parental Choice Programs continue to grow across Wisconsin,” Jim Bender said. “Combined with public school open enrollment and independent charters, more than 12% of students are educated with public dollars outside their resident district. That number continues to increase every year.” WPCP – District limits are at 4% of enrollment…

For Immediate Release September 12, 2019 Contact: Jim Bender DPI gets an “F” on transparency by withholding crucial data from media Test results released yesterday by the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) show that again this year, students in the Parental Choice Programs are outperforming their full-income, public-school peers on the ACT. As with all test data, a one-year snapshot of raw data has limitations but the trend of higher scores for students on a voucher is great news for both students and taxpayers. New this year were the results of the Aspire Exam as part of the ACT suite.…

For Immediate Release May 9, 2019 Contact: Jim Bender, School Choice Wisconsin Without surprise, Evers’ proposed changes rejected across the board Statement from Jim Bender, President of School Choice Wisconsin on the omnibus motion to remove Governor Evers’ proposed changes to the Parental Choice Programs: “When Governor Evers proposed his changes to the Parental Choice Programs for the upcoming state budget, the expectations were very low that they would survive the legislative process. Nonetheless, in a play to his fervent base, those provisions were included. Today, calmer heads prevailed and all those items were removed. We would like to thank…

For Immediate Release April 8, 2019 Contact: Jim Bender, School Choice Wisconsin In Taking Swipe at Choice Program, School/City Make Huge Error Statement from Jim Bender on the confirmation that the City of Racine and the Racine Unified School District sent out flyers to taxpayers with erroneous information regarding property taxes and the Racine Parental Choice Program: “The City of Racine and the Racine Unified School District misled the public with a flyer designed to sway public opinion and shame parents of students in the Racine Parental Choice Program (RPCP). Their use of erroneous and incomplete data shows the true…