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This is an opinion piece by Nicholas J. Kelly posted to Wisconsin Right Now on November 20, 2024. Wisconsin pioneered what has become a national movement to expand parent education options. From an initial program serving 341 students at seven schools, this year more than 181,000 Wisconsin students use choices that did not exist before the 1990’s. Across the political spectrum, and in all media markets, Wisconsin voters approve and favor expansion. Opponents are undeterred, especially when it comes to programs that let parents choose private schools. More than 58,000 students are enrolled this year in those Wisconsin programs. For…
Read MoreThis is an opinion piece by Nicholas J. Kelly posted to Wisconsin Right Now on October 10, 2024. Milwaukee and Racine data – the fairer comparison – shows private choice students outperform public school students in 32 of 36 grade-level comparisons. This is an opinion piece. Half-truths are contemptible. As the Oxford Dictionary explains, half-truths “deliberately convey only part of the truth in order to deceive someone.” DPI issues half-truths on an annual basis, when it releases state test scores that compare students from low-income and moderate-income families with all students statewide. They do it even though they know it…
Read MoreAll K-12 students are invited to participate in our annual art contest in celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month. This year’s theme is Shaping the Future Together. There will be one grand prize winner per category: K–2 = $50 Grades 3–5 = $100 Grades 6–8 = $150 Grades 9–12 = $200 The submission deadline is October 15 25, 2024. Winners will be announced on October 31, 2024, on our Facebook pages (SCW and HFSC) as well as contacted directly. All decisions are final. Contest Rules: Open to ALL K-12 students One single entry per student Handmade drawing or painting only (no…
Read MoreThis is an opinion piece by Nicholas J. Kelly posted to Wisconsin Right Now on August 14, 2024. Primary elections are over. A 12-week sprint to the general election is underway. A major shift in public opinion on school choice and K-12 education will be a factor in legislative races statewide. Given the general consensus that new legislative maps will produce closely contested November outcomes, the views of likely voters on school choice will be decisive. Wes Anderson, the most experienced pollster on Wisconsin education issues in the last two decades, says a tipping point has been reached. When Anderson talks…
Read MoreThis is an opinion piece by Nicholas J. Kelly posted to Wisconsin Right Now on June 18, 2024. No response to the regrettable MPS debacle will be adequate if it does not include expanded educational choice for all families. Every child deserves an exit pass. Educational choice is the single policy with demonstrable results in the decades of MPS “reform” efforts. Scores of choice students have gone up while those of MPS students have declined. More than half of the city’s parents now use options enacted in the 1990s under Governor Tommy Thompson. The latest data available show that in the…
Read MoreThis is an opinion piece by Nicholas J. Kelly posted to Wisconsin Right Now on January 16, 2024. There are two key takeaways from Wisconsin’s pioneering school choice programs. First, students in the programs outperform their public school peers. Second, the taxpayer cost is sixty-nine percent of public school spending. As president of School Choice Wisconsin, these results spur my work every day. At School Choice Wisconsin we connect with schools and families to imagine a better future — whether that means expanding a school, finding the right option for a particular student, or simply spreading the word about the…
Read MoreDecember 13, 2023 The Wisconsin Supreme Court today unanimously denied a petition seeking to halt Wisconsin’s parental choice programs. “This news will come as a great relief to thousands of Wisconsin families and the schools that serve them. Parents across the state value a program that works for them,” said Nicholas Kelly, president of School Choice Wisconsin. Kelly thanked the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty for seeking to intervene on behalf of School Choice Wisconsin Action and other parents and students in choice and charter schools and protecting parental choice. He noted that SCW had launched a significant ad…
Read MoreWEST ALLIS, Wis. (November 29, 2022) – A School Choice Wisconsin analysis of DPI Report Cards shows that schools in the state’s parental choice programs have earned higher grades than public schools. “Despite entry barriers, and funding at 60% of public school levels, DPI finds that schools in private school choice programs outperform public schools,” said Nic Kelly, President of School Choice Wisconsin. He added, “These results are consistent with previously released DPI data. That data showed choice students outscoring public school students on the college-readiness ACT test. It also ranked choice students higher on academic proficiency tests.” Students in…
Read MoreWisconsin’s choice enrollment is growing. This is no surprise to School Choice Wisconsin given the widespread embrace of educational freedom in Wisconsin and around the country. We are especially pleased to see the growth of the Special Needs Scholarship Program (SNSP), one of Wisconsin’s four choice programs. The program went from a headcount of 1,759 in 2021–22 to 2,217 in 22–23, growing more than 25 percent in one year. One school that’s embracing the program is Kettle Moraine Lutheran in Jackson. That school — with its beautiful facilities and setting — has seen its SNSP enrollment go from zero in…
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