Conservative Coalition Will Push Vouchers
Big state lobbying groups combine to push for expanding school choice.
School classroom. (Pixabay License).
Several conservative groups announced Thursday that they’re forming a coalition to work together on education issues, with a likely focus on expanding the private school voucher program.
The newly formed “Coalition for Educational Freedom” includes the American Federation for Children and School Choice Wisconsin, two groups that already focus almost exclusively on expanding access to private school vouchers. Other members include the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty and Americans for Prosperity-Wisconsin.
“We’re just not doing an adequate job of preparing kids to enter the workforce,” Manley said. “We need to do something to disrupt the system and get some improvement.”
Manley said the new coalition’s agenda would focus on lifting restrictions on Wisconsin’s private school voucher program.
“If we open up that door and allow parents to make the decision about what’s the best way to get their child educated, that’s going to force our public schools to improve,” Manley said.
Manley said the new coalition would use its collective power to focus on passing legislation, but it’s being formed two months before an election that could decide the future of education in Wisconsin.
In the race for governor, Republican Tim Michels has pledged to support “universal school choice,” a proposal GOP lawmakers tried to pass last session and Gov. Tony Evers strongly opposes.
Under current law, students aren’t eligible to participate in the Milwaukee and Racine County school voucher programs if their family income is greater than 300 percent of the federal poverty level. Under the statewide school voucher program, that income threshold is 220 percent. Under a GOP bill Evers vetoed last session, those income caps would have been eliminated.
In Evers’ veto message, he chided Republicans for increasing the burden on taxpayers without adding any state funding to pay for it.
“I am vetoing this bill because I object to the drastic impact it could have on families,” Evers said at the time.
As the race for governor has picked up, Evers has made a point of highlighting public school funding, both by directing federal funds to schools and by calling for an increase in state funding if he’s reelected.
Coalition of conservative groups to focus on education, including school vouchers was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.
Funny how these groups who denounce “socialism” as some kind of ultimate evil have no problem taking tax money for private businesses. That’s socialism. Private schools are private businesses. The taxpayers should not be propping up private businesses.
Here is a better idea. Only tax people with kids in schools. No kids in school, no property taxes to pay for schools. Most people have zero interest in being taxed to give the money to private schools. The MAGA crowd is fixated on it as it means looting the public treasury for their private benefit.
@nickzales the idea that only folks with kids pay property taxes? meh. We all have a vested interest in community and a strong public education system.
Stealing public money to indoctrinate little kids in “white Jesus” bs is by design – get ’em locked in at an early age into narcissistic prosperity theology.
They want tax money for their fake jesus schools? Then tax the shit out of all their church property.
A State wide choice program would implied public education. Families who support their children educationally will get them enrolled in the better choice schools where the rest of the choice schools and public schools will deal with the majority of the students who need a great deal of resources to learn. Wisconsin will end up with a marginal educational system similar to Texas or Florida. Wisconsin had spent billions on school choice over three decades and there are no really significant results from these expenditures except for taxpayer support of religious indoctrination which is the real propose of school choice.
They facsist nazis who wamt vouchers want to destroy the teachers union and leech off our taxes. WMC, and the rest should be tried for Treason, Esenberg is a grand dragon anyway of the WI KKK. That man is a sniveling whore.
Not sure that this is news, since all of those groups have already been pushing school choice for years. Is this aa press release based on them all having lunch together and deciding to put their names on a letterhead?
Public tax dollars stolen from public education to fund “lessons learned” In jesus lore is all part of the fever dream. True believers or not, this is a money grab and crowd control. If you’ll believe the fantastical, you’ll believe anything.
American xtians are so twisted in their logic that they believe the Don can do no wrong? PiOuS death cult.