Memo: Voucher Schools Receive More State Funding Per Student

Private voucher schools would receive an additional $1,000 or more in state funding per student compared to public schools under Gov. Scott Walker’s proposed budget, although voucher school advocates say that only tells part of the story.

A memo from the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau shows choice schools will receive between $7,757 and $8,403 in state funding per student in the second year of Walker’s budget. By comparison, public schools will receive an average of $6,703 per student. That means private voucher schools will receive roughly $1,000 to $1,700 more in state funding per student than public schools.

Democratic State Sen. Janet Bewley, of Mason, who asked for the memo, said with so many demands on the state budget, it’s important for people to know where their money is going.

“I think it is very important that people understand that their dollars are going to voucher schools and students in voucher schools at a higher rate per student,” Bewley said. “If you think of the state as a whole, so much of our state is served very, very well only by public schools. There are no private schools to choose from.”

But Jim Bender, president of pro-voucher group School Choice Wisconsin, said that when all taxpayer funding — including local property taxes — is considered, public schools receive far more per student than choice schools.

“On a publicly funded student, you have to account for all the publicly funded streams of revenue for each individual student,” Bender said. “That memo doesn’t do that.”

School revenue limits, which are based on a school’s state aid and property tax funding, averaged $10,312 per public school student in 2016.