Wisconsin Budget Includes an Increase in Funding for Public and Private Schools

Tuesday, June 13th, 2023 -- 12:00 PM

(By Corrinne Hess, Wisconsin Public Radio) The sweeping local government funding plan moving through the state Legislature includes $1 billion for Wisconsin’s public schools and a substantial increase in public funding for the state’s private schools.  

According to Corrinne Hess with Wisconsin Public Radio, the plan boosts funding to K-8 private choice schools from about $8,400 per student to $9,500 per student. Private choice high schools will go from $9,045 to $12,000 per student.\

The money the state directs to the school choice program goes directly to private schools as payments for each student they enroll. During the 2022-23 school year, 373 private schools enrolled approximately 52,000 students in the four existing parent choice programs in Wisconsin.

Legislative Republicans are touting the private school funding included in the local government funding plan as "transformational," as it is the largest expansion in funding since the program was founded.  

Republicans have said public schools get $14,000 per student. In the 2021-22 school year, Wisconsin's public schools received a total of $16,859 per student, which came from a combination of local property taxes, federal sources and the state.

Of that, about $7,728 came from the state, according to the Department of Public Instruction.

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