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Yesterday, a LFB memo was released highlighting the state aid portion of education funding and the relative levels between the Parental Choice Programs and traditional public school district funding increases. As has been the practice, the request for the memo is selectively narrow to give only a portion of the data without context. The memo pointed to an increase in voucher funding compared to a decrease in public school funding. In this instance, the illusion of higher voucher funding is woven into a narrative that lacks context by only using the state portion of funding. While the per pupil voucher…
Read MoreThe Department of Public Instruction (DPI) published a press release this morning noting that 28 private schools in 5 counties have registered for the new Special Needs Scholarship Program (SNSP). In total, there are 416 seats available for students ranging from grades K4-12 and ages 4-21. “Once again, parents and students are showing their demand for options in education in Wisconsin,” said Jim Bender, President of School Choice Wisconsin. “The Special Needs Scholarship holds promise for many families seeking a new direction for their children.” All schools were required to complete a school profile outlining which special needs services they…
Read MoreData released today by the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) shows that again this year, students in the Parental Choice Programs are outperforming their peers. As with all test data, a one-year snapshot has limitations but the trend of higher test scores for students on a voucher is great news for students and taxpayers. “All three Parental Choice Programs, comprised predominately of low-income students, outscored their full-income counterparts across the entire state in public schools on the ACT,” Jim Bender said. “Combined with the Forward Exam, these results highlight superior outcomes at a fraction of the cost to taxpayers.” Below…
Read MoreData released today by the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) shows that again this year, students in the Parental Choice Programs are outperforming their peers. As with all test data, a one-year snapshot has limitations but the trend of higher scores for students on a voucher is great news for students and taxpayers. “All three Parental Choice Programs, comprised predominately of low-income students, outscored their full-income counterparts across the entire state in public schools on the ACT,” Jim Bender said. “Combined with the Forward Exam, these results highlight superior outcomes at a fraction of the cost to taxpayers.” Below is…
Read MoreThe US Department of Justice launched an investigation concerning discrimination against students with disabilities by private schools in the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program (MPCP) after the ACLU and Disability Rights Wisconsin (DRW) filed a compliant. After four years, the DOJ closed the investigation without finding any discrimination. Of importance, however, was that the investigation used a dubious and unprecedented legal theory – apply public school laws to private schools under Title II of Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) because the private school accepts state dollars. This legal theory contradicts a Wisconsin Supreme Court Decision, a US Supreme Court Decision, and…
Read MoreSchool Choice Wisconsin surveyed schools to find out what standardized tests they would prefer to use in the future. A total of 27 schools responded to School Choice Wisconsin’s survey, seven in Racine out of twenty schools in the program for 2015-2016 (35%) and twenty-one in the Wisconsin Parental Choice Program (WPCP) out of 72 total (excluding Milwaukee schools in the WPCP) for 2015-2016 (29%). Survey respondents were asked to name two tests each, but a few named more. The most commonly named tests in the WPCP were the ACT Aspire (9), ACT (7), and ACT Explore (1). Iowa Basic…
Read MoreStarting in 2015-16, new RPCP and WPCP students’ vouchers will be funded similar to the open enrollment. While this ensures there is no voucher amount reduction, public districts unfairly receive a subsidy for students they do not educate due to revenue limit counting purposes. Below are some models showing how much “skim” would go to public districts throughout the state under varying enrollment projections. Approximately 75% of voucher students are in grade K-8 and 25% in grades 9-12. Using the current voucher amounts of $7,210 and $7,856, we can estimate how much undue funding public districts will receive. 2,000 Voucher…
Read MoreEach year, the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) collects WKCE results from all public schools[1] as well as all choice pupils[2] at private schools and publishes them on WISEdash. Usually DPI attempts to skew the data in order to favor public schools. However, the aggregate results from the choice schools were too high to make this possible. The choice students outperformed the RUSD students in every grade in both subjects. The tables below show the percent of students who scored either proficient or advanced in the two subjects that the WKCE assesses, science and social studies. School System 4th…
Read MoreThe Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty (WILL) released the results of a study on standardized test scores that accounted for socioeconomic factors for all school sectors across Wisconsin. Here are some of the highlights of the test score study: Students in the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program (MPCP) scored 5% higher in reading proficiency and 4% higher in math proficiency on the Wisconsin Forward Exam than similar students in Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS). Students in the MPCP scored 8% higher on the ACT than similar students in MPS. Students in the Racine/Wisconsin Parental Choice Programs scored 17% higher on the…
Read MoreThe Department of Public Instruction (DPI) released test score data from last spring that shows that students in the Parental Choice Programs did well when measured against their public school counterparts. In both math and English language arts, students on a voucher in all three choice programs outperformed their income-adjusted counterparts on the Badger Exam, the Act and Dynamic Learning Maps Exam, and the ACT Plus Writing Exam. In some cases, low-income voucher students even outperformed their full-income public school peers. “The test results show higher scores for students in the Parental Choice Programs,” Jim Bender, President of School Choice…
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