Latest Poll Finds Wisconsin Residents Favor Using Public Funds for Voucher Schools, But Not at the Expense of Public Schools

Sunday, July 2nd, 2023 -- 11:00 AM

(By Corrinne Hess, Wisconsin Public Radio) Wisconsin voters say they favor using public funds for school vouchers as long as that does not come at the expense of public schools, according to the latest Marquette Law School Poll.

According to Corrinne Hess with Wisconsin Public Radio, support for school vouchers varies by region of the state. Milwaukee, where the school voucher program originated, has the highest number of people in favor at 62 percent.

Madison had the lowest at 36 percent, and was the only region of the state without a majority in favor. Statewide support is at 54 percent. Wisconsin passed its first public charter school law in 1993, with Milwaukee Public Schools getting the first charter schools.

Milwaukee Public Schools enroll about 53 percent of the children in Milwaukee. The remaining students go to private schools, charter schools or open-enroll into suburban school districts, according to data compiled by Alan Borsuk, a senior fellow in law and public policy at Marquette University Law School.

In the Marquette poll, when people were given a choice between increasing state support for students to attend private schools and increasing support for public schools, 71 percent said they favor increased support for public schools.

Twenty-eight percent prefer increasing support for attending private schools, said Marquette pollster Charles Franklin. At the same time, about two-thirds of people said they are "satisfied" or "very satisfied" with the public schools in their community. About 1,000 people were surveyed between June 8 and June 13.

That was the same time lawmakers were unveiling a plan to include $1 billion for Wisconsin's public schools and a substantial increase in public funding for the state's private schools in the 2023-25 state budget.

Under the plan, funding for kindergarten through eighth-grade private choice schools will increase from about $8,400 per student to $9,500 per student. Funding for 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. The government funding plan is the largest financial expansion to private school choice in the program’s history.

Franklin said people surveyed were not asked directly about the state budget.

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