Archbishop Wants School Vouchers Statewide

A national tour promoting school voucher expansion arrives in Wisconsin Wednesday (1/30) and arrives as Milwaukee’s Catholic Archbishop is calling for vouchers statewide.

Governor Walker and other officials are scheduled to be at a gathering linked to the arrival of a passenger train called the “National School Choice Week Special.” The event is billed as one highlighting the array of education options parents have in the Milwaukee area, but it comes as Walker is hinting at an expansion of taxpayer-funded school vouchers beyond the current boundaries of Milwaukee County and Racine. Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome Listecki is already on board for that idea of expansion, “I’d love to see in [in] the whole state. As a former Bishop of La Crosse, I can tell you there are a lot of rural schools that do just a phenomenal job, and certainly if they were given an ability through choice … to support those programs that they have there, we’d be more solid in terms of our educational approach.”

Public school advocates are trying to stop any choice expansion, saying that Milwaukee’s experience shows that vouchers have done little to improve student achievement, and penalized some city property taxpayers.