High schools in Milwaukee’s and Racine’s choice programs outperform publics

WEST ALLIS, Wis. (November 15, 2022) – High schools in Milwaukee’s and Racine’s parental choice programs outperform public high schools in those districts by a large margin, new data from the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction show.

In the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program (MPCP), 82 percent of students attend high schools that meet, exceed or significantly exceed expectations.

Conversely, nearly 80 percent of Milwaukee Public Schools high school students are in schools that meet few or fail to meet expectations.

In the Racine Parental Choice Program (RPCP), all high schools meet or exceed expectations. In contrast, in the Racine Unified School District, fully 75 percent attend schools that meet few or fail to meet expectations.

“The high school experience is critical for a student to be able to succeed in college or their careers. These results show why we need more parent choice,” said Nic Kelly, president of School Choice Wisconsin.

Kelly noted that the private high schools in the Milwaukee and Racine programs dramatically outperformed their public counterparts despite the fact that they receive on average only about 60 percent of per pupil funding available to public schools. a significant disparity in funding. The average value of a voucher is $9,045, while traditional public school funding was about $16,017 per student for 2020–21.

“If we truly believe that all of our students have value and that their funding should not depend on the type of school they attend, then we need to close this gap,” Kelly said.  He said that private high schools will be unable to expand or even survive without relief.

The data are from Report Cards for the 2021–22 school year, released today by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. See the graphs below for the rating categories the DPI uses in the Report Cards.