Voucher Scam Alert: "The Price of Parallel Systems"

Context:
‍Supporters of private school vouchers have been pushing policy that would change the way the state funds private schools through the voucher program by “decoupling” it from education spending as a separate budget item. Under these proposals, the state would fund private school vouchers at a guaranteed amount directly from general purpose revenue (GPR), making it easier to “insulate the [voucher] program from constitutional challenge” according to the pro-privatization organization Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty.

Our assessment: We’re raising the red flag.
‍“Decoupling” might look like it would simplify things, but is much more complicated than it seems. It’s a fiscally reckless idea that could open floodgates to the limitless no-caps-on-income-or-participation expansion some state lawmakers & lobbyists have so far been unsuccessful in obtaining, with very little oversight.  It would also make our efforts to demand accountability even harder than they already are, and give the deceptive “appearance” that vouchers and independent charters have no impact on public school funding or taxes. We’ve been watchdogging attacks on public schools long enough to know a Trojan Horse when we see one, and we have seen the narrative change to fit the scheme again and again, always with the same result: public schools get less, and unaccountable voucher schemes get bigger, despite nearly 80% of students in the statewide voucher program never attending a public school. States like Arizona and Florida are seeing more and more public schools shutting down since their programs were expanded full-throttle and “decoupling” looks like little more than a trick to get there faster. There is a reason that the privatization lobby is working so aggressively to get a direct line to state revenue and see this become law, and there is no scenario in which voucher spending does not have an impact on taxes or public schools. Those we have entrusted to support and defend our public schools should oppose all policy that undermines and diverts resources away from them.  

Reasons to oppose decoupling:

• Pulling funding behind a closed door won’t increase transparency or accountability. The current system is messy, but at least it ensures some oversight of the spending and a mechanism for measuring the costs of expansion on Wisconsin taxpayers. Decouping could make it harder, not easier, to hold vouchers and independent charters accountable to taxpayers. 
• Those pushing hardest for this to pass are those most aggressively seeking to disparage, dismantle, and create distrust in our public schools. It is a Trojan horse. 
• Wisconsin cannot afford two separate, unequal school systems. Especially when one side is exempt from most of the accountability and transparency measures and is permitted to select (and reject) their own students.

‍Wisconsin has a constitutional obligation to fund public schools that are “as uniform as practicable…and no sectarian instruction shall be allowed therein.” Especially at a time when our schools are struggling under 16 years of budgets that failed to keep pace with inflation, we should be prioritizing meeting the needs of our public schools, not giving in to the pressures of those who are actively undermining them.

Learn more:

The price of parallel systems: How changing the way Wisconsin pays for voucher schools could affect public schools and the state budget
May 2025 Taking Care of Business Article WASBO Research Director Anne Chapman
Explore of the potential fiscal impacts of proposals to shift voucher funding to become 100% state funded (a.k.a. "decoupling"). This discussion draws on WASBO's expertise in education finance policy, understanding of the history of Wisconsin's voucher programs, and observations of voucher expansion in other states. We hope it provides a big-picture perspective on how such changes could affect public schools and the overall fiscal health of the state budget for years to come.