LETER: Private voucher schools are a bargain for state taxpayers

To Ozaukee Press:

In recent weeks, residents of Wisconsin were exposed to the annual round of news stories discussing the adoption of school district budgets in their communities. These stories are more often than not the narrative school district administrators present. These narratives set out to justify and explain any proposed tax increase.

School districts are primarily funded through the state equalization aid formula and local property taxes. Equalization aid is based on enrollment and property wealth, calculated on a per-student basis. After accounting for state aid, school districts are allowed to levy property taxes up to the amount of their revenue limit, which is also set by state law.  

A common scapegoat for the decision to increase property taxes is to offset the loss of state aid from students who left their resident school district to enroll in a private voucher school. State aid is, for the most part, given on the basis of enrollment. Funding mechanisms to smooth finances exist for districts who lose students. A similar financial impact exists for school choice between public schools, also known as open enrollment. Common sense says that when a student leaves a school for another school, public or private, the money for educating that student goes with the student.

While emphasis is often put on the state aid offset and the taxpayer “costs” associated with students who leave public schools for private voucher schools, there is rarely any mention of the net taxpayer savings. The average voucher value across the statewide school choice programs for 2020-21 was roughly $8,500. By comparison, the average revenue limit per student for school districts for the 2020-21 school year was $10,942.

According to the non-partisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau, Wisconsin’s school choice programs represent a net savings to taxpayers assuming about three-quarters of voucher students would otherwise attend public school in the absence of a voucher. Evaluations of school choice programs have found that roughly 90% of students who don’t receive a voucher in a voucher lottery end up attending public school. Therefore, it is reasonable to extrapolate that each student enrolled in a private voucher school represents approximately $2,500 in net savings to Wisconsin taxpayers.

School choice in Wisconsin is a viable alternative to public education. In many cases performance of choice students exceeds public school students of comparable socioeconomic status, and it represents a bargain for taxpayers.
 

Duey Stroebel
Saukville
The author is a Republican state senator representing Wisconsin’s 20th district.