Real Lives, Real Results

Real Lives, Real Results

School choice is helping real kids. Thousands of students throughout Wisconsin are thriving because of the educational options available to them through school choice programs. Here are just a few of their school choice stories.

Choice Schools and Families Stranded When DPI Drops the Ball

February 21, 2022

This year in Wisconsin, 49,000 students are enrolled in private schools through the Milwaukee, Racine, or Statewide Parental Choice Program. These are students in hard-working lower-income families who have been given a voucher to attend the school of their choice. The program is a blessing to families who could not otherwise afford the education that…

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The Support Behind the Stanford Scholar: Augustin at Cristo Rey Jesuit

February 14, 2022

Augustin Khey has been a busy student at Cristo Rey Jesuit High School for the past four years. On a given day, you may have found him building something for his robotics or computer science clubs. Or maybe you grabbed a copy of the Cristo Rey Jesuit High School newspaper and read an article by…

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In Service and Commitment, GRACE’s Doors Remain Open

February 8, 2022

When you’re dedicated to service, sometimes you must take risks to serve your community best. Ahead of the start of their 2020-21 school year, The Green Bay Area Catholic Education (GRACE) System had to decide whether they would take just such a risk. At the time, the Green Bay Area Public School District had decided…

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Annaliese School Choice Story

School Choice, St. Bruno’s, and Annalise

August 10, 2021

DOUSMAN, WI – On a cold afternoon in February, Annalise Cartwright had a parent-teacher conference unlike any other before. She sat in the brightly colored miniature chairs, customary for her 4-year-old Kindergarten classroom, with her mom, Melissa; dad, Allen; teacher, Juanita Gutbrod; and principal, Ben Holzem. They tried to break the news gently. A fire…

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kyan at hope via in racine

The Wakefield Family at HOPE Via

July 10, 2021

If there is one thing that 7-year-old Kyan Wakefield has enthusiasm about, it is prayer. The second-grader loves to pray. In fact, he gets a bit overzealous at times, and is gently reminded to cut it short when he leads the prayer at his new school, HOPE Via, in Racine. That doesn’t surprise his parents,…

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Amya at the Institute of Technology and Academics

June 22, 2021

Far across town from the Institute of Technology and Academics, lives a 15-year-old girl who has been in desperate straits. Her parents struggle with drug addiction, she cannot read and she has resorted to cutting herself to cope with her unhappy life. Things are changing for her, though, and it is all because of one…

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Adam in the SNSP

Meet Adam, The Social Entrepreneur

June 20, 2021

There was a time when Bernetta Dokes was in denial. She didn’t want to believe that any of her children had special needs that would impede their academic success. But in the middle of his elementary years, her son Adam was not reading at the rate that would be expected for his age. He was…

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lighthouse choice program

Choice Program Empowers Parents

June 10, 2021

MADISON –On Monday evenings, a handful of parents gather at Lighthouse Christian School to better understand the vital role they play in the successful education of their children. One of them, Marcia Vinveza, joins her colleagues after a day working in a nearby factory. The single mother of a third-grader says she chooses Lighthouse Christian School because…

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Sahara Aden at St. Joan Antida in Milwaukee

May 22, 2021

Sahara Aden is a St. Joan Antida success story.  Aden graduated from the all-girl, Catholic school in Milwaukee earlier this year and just completed her first trimester at Milwaukee School of Engineering, studying electrical engineering. “I don’t think I’d choose this path without the choice program,” she said in an interview. Ninety-eight percent of St.…

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cannalte family

Blaze At HOPE Christian Schools

April 15, 2021

James and Maureen Cannalte know their children well – all eight of them. So when it comes to determining the best education for each, they have stretched the gamut of options. While living in Texas, home schooling seemed the best fit for their growing family. Then, when job opportunity brought the Cannaltes to Pell Lake,…

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