05/08/2026
Hi Folks, this is Senator Jeff Smith – your Chippewa Valley State Senator. For the month of May, I’m putting together a special, multi-part series outlining the impacts private school voucher programs have on our state. We’ll explore the effect this is having on our public schools, and especially, property taxpayers.
A deep-dive into the data reveals some alarming trends. Whether you rent or own, or have children in school or not – everyone’s costs are rising. We all are paying a steep price to unnecessarily subsidize private schools and it’s unsustainable.
Private voucher school enrollment has grown by almost 80% over the past ten years. Last year alone, private voucher schools have siphoned off over $700 million in education funding.
In April, over $1 billion worth of public school referendums asked local property taxpayers to dig even deeper to keep their doors open. Just over half passed, leaving an uncertain future for the schools that failed to pass referendums.
But here’s what many taxpayers don’t know: Private schools are paid first and public schools split up what’s left over.
So this week, I’m detailing the history and mechanics of Wisconsin’s four private school voucher programs. The map below shows the locations of each voucher school and how much school funding they siphon off from public schools:
https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/dd565f8bd67241058f566d19c49fad25?draft=true =id%3AdataSource_1-19db1788951-layer-3%3A197
Over the coming weeks, we’ll explore how much each public school district lost to private voucher schools last year, and why the April referendums could have dire consequences for our public schools.
My hope is that after I lay out all of this data, one thing will become clear to you as it has to me: Wisconsin’s voucher programs have created a second, unaccountable school system funded by taxpayers at the expense of our public schools.
To start, let’s take a look at the origins and evolution of our voucher programs since 1990 to today...
THE FOUR VOUCHER PROGRAMS IN WISCONSIN
1. Milwaukee Parental Choice Program (MPCP) - Since 1990
The Milwaukee Parental Choice Program was created in 1990 and was the first voucher program of its kind in the United States, starting with seven private schools and 341 students. MPCP has since grown to more than 135 schools with 29,000 students attending annually.
MPCP gained significant momentum in 1995 when Act 27 allowed religious schools to participate, a decision affirmed by the Wisconsin Supreme Court in 1998. Since then, enrollment has grown steadily as caps were removed and the program expanded under Gov. Scott Walker into three additional initiatives.
Who qualifies: Students must reside in Milwaukee and have a family income at or below 300% of the federal poverty level. There is no enrollment cap.
Voucher value: $10,877 for K-8 students and $13,371 for high school students. These amounts increase in tandem with state public school funding each year.
How it’s funded: MPCP is funded entirely through state General Purpose Revenue (GPR) – the state’s general fund supported by income and sales taxes.
2. Racine Parental Choice Program (RPCP) - Since 2011
The Racine Parental Choice Program began in 2011 with 228 students and 8 schools. The original 250-student cap has since been lifted and now there are 4,170.
Who qualifies: Students must reside in the Racine Unified School District and meet income requirements similar to WPCP (below). Students can enter the program in grades K4, K5, 1, or 9, or when they meet prior year attendance requirements such as attending a Wisconsin public school, homeschool, or being on a waitlist for a Wisconsin choice program.
Voucher value: $10,877 for K-8 students and $13,371 for high school students.
How it’s funded: Unlike MPCP, RPCP vouchers are paid by reducing state aid to the Racine Unified School District since 2017. When a student uses a RPCP voucher, the district loses that amount from its state funding. The loss of state funding siphoned off by the Racine Voucher Program is then backfilled by a property tax increase.
3. Wisconsin Parental Choice Program (WPCP) - Since 2013
The Wisconsin Parental Choice Program is a statewide voucher program launched in 2013 as an extension of MPCP. It has grown exponentially from an original 500-student cap to now 23,417 students.
Who qualifies: Students must reside in Wisconsin (but not in the City of Milwaukee or Racine Unified), have a family income at or below 220% of the federal poverty level, and meet prior year attendance requirements: attending a Wisconsin public school, not enrolled in school the previous year (including homeschool), private school students in grades K4, K5, 1, or 9, or previous participants in MPCP or RPCP.
It’s also worth noting that once a student is in either choice program, the income limit no longer applies. In other words, if a families income increases, the student may continue to attend a choice school. If they want to attend a choice school in another district, the family income does not need to be verified a second time. This has been referred to as the “once in, always in” provision.
Voucher value: $10,877 for K-8 students and $13,371 for high school students.
How it’s funded: WPCP vouchers come directly from state aid reductions to individual school districts. When a child from Eau Claire uses a WPCP voucher, the Eau Claire School District loses that money from its state aid. The same applies to Chippewa Falls, Menomonie, and every other district in Wisconsin. Like RPCP, the loss of state funding siphoned off by the WPCP vouchers is then backfilled by a property tax increase.
4. Special Needs Scholarship Program (SNSP) - Since 2015
The Special Needs Scholarship Program launched with fewer than 50 schools and 500 students but has grown to 215 schools serving 3,436 students.
Who qualifies: All Wisconsin residents with an Individualized Education Program (IEP) or comparable substitute who are not simultaneously enrolled in other schooling. There are no income requirements.
Voucher value: Students receive $16,049 in scholarship funds. For students requiring additional services, the state may pay up to 150% of the scholarship amount.
ADDITIONAL HIDDEN COSTS TO PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Beyond lost state aid, public school districts face additional financial burdens created by voucher programs:
Transportation to private schools: Public school districts are required to pay for transporting voucher students to private schools. Struggling school districts are yet even more strained by private voucher schools because they bear the cost of getting students to private schools. These transportation costs are reimbursed to the districts, but that money is still an additional cost to taxpayers.
Special Education: Here’s a critical detail: Private voucher schools receive 90% reimbursement for special education costs. Public schools, meanwhile, receive only 35% reimbursement for special education costs. Since the state reimbursement rate for special education is so low, school districts must use funds from their general operating budget to cover unreimbursed special education costs. The only way to make up the difference is to ask voters to increase their property tax dollars via ballot referendum.
Over the past 15 years, private school voucher enrollment has exploded to nearly 60,000 students receiving $700 million in taxpayer funding for the 2025-26 school year.
But the true cost to Wisconsin taxpayers – and to our public schools – goes far beyond that $700 million figure.
Next week, I’ll show you exactly how much each school district in Wisconsin lost to voucher programs last year.
The week after that, we’ll examine April’s referendum results to see what happened when underfunded public schools turned to their communities for help. In short - school districts asked for a $1 billion increase on the April ballot, and 39% failed leaving an uncertain future for many school districts. All while Republicans sat on a 3.5 billion surplus in Madison.
Together, these three pieces — payments to private schools, lost revenue to school districts and the need for additional property tax dollars through referendum — will reveal the complete picture of how Wisconsin’s voucher programs have hollowed out our public schools while taxpayers fund private unaccountable voucher schools, and who’s really paying the bill.
Click here to explore the map: https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/dd565f8bd67241058f566d19c49fad25?draft=true =id%3AdataSource_1-19db1788951-layer-3%3A197
