I do not support the voucher / school choice programs. This is a band aid to put taxpayers on the hook for more costs, more busing, and taxpayer money going to private schools. There will be those who profit and those who pay more. I suspect most of us will be paying and a few profiting.
The problem isn’t the schools, it’s the gangsta culture and lack of any family support that puts a priority on academic achievement and education. Shipping kids around to other schools isn’t going to change that, but it will cost those of us that are already paying too much in property tax.
This program for Wisconsin was started in the 1980’s by a liberal (former welfare mother) who was in the State Legislature. Very liberal on most issues - but the horrid condition of the schools caused Polly Williams to push for a voucher program that would allow parents to move their children to better performing schools. She had a very tough battle against the teacher unions ...but she won.
The benefit to the state and the taxpayers is that since public schools get twice the value of the voucher - when a student moves from state school to private school, the public school looses money, and half the money goes to the private school, and the state (and taxpayer) save half! Other benefits include the fact that parents now get involved (and most private schools require more parental involvement to offset discounted tuition ...and that parental involvement means that the children have a much greater chance of success - - significantly better test scores, lower dropout rates, etc. Do some research on the name “Polly Williams” and Wisconsin School Choice.
This is a win-win-win proposition. (And usually, a parent moving their kid to private school means that they figure out the transportation, provide sack lunches, etc. ...so there are other savings that come to the taxpayer!)