"Milwaukee's long-running school voucher program... has saved Wisconsin more than $238 million since its inception in 1990..."

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports on a new study, which it says is not surprising, since the voucher students get to go to private school is less than is paid to cover their public school education. (Vouchers are less than $8,000 per student, while public school is about $10,000 per student in Milwaukee.)

The [Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice] that conducted the study operates in the spirit of economist Milton Friedman, a 20th century free-market advocate who believed allowing public dollars to follow the child would expand personal freedom, improve achievement and save money.

The $238 million number predates a recent expansion of the voucher program. The question of further expansion of the program is a current issue in the Wisconsin gubernatorial election, something the linked article doesn't mention. The 2 candidates take opposite positions here, as you can see in this Sept. 3rd Journal Sentinel article. The Democratic candidate, Mary Burke — who is a member of the Madison school board — opposes expanding the voucher program (though she says she won't eliminate the programs in Milwaukee and Racine). The Republican candidate, the incumbent Scott Walker, is enthusiastic about vouchers.

On a morning visit to a high-profile Milwaukee private school, Walker said he supports significantly increasing participation in the 2-year-old statewide voucher program, particularly for low-income students and potentially for students from higher-income families....

Burke picked up the gauntlet Wednesday afternoon, repeating her pledge to reduce the number of vouchers offered by the state for students to attend private, mostly religious schools by eliminating the statewide program entirely.

"This just seems to me like a career politician 60 days before an election is throwing out ideas with no plan for how they're going to be funded," Burke said in a phone interview with reporters. "What we saw from the statewide program is something like 75% of the children enrolled were never enrolled in public schools. I respect that decision, but I also don't think it should be taxpayer subsidized. I wouldn't have the program at all."

Burke is denying that there's a tax savings, because most of the students who get vouchers would have gone to private school anyway.


The September 3rd article shows how much money goes into this issue, to both candidates, with the teachers union spending heavily for Burke and pro-voucher groups going for Walker. There's also a lot of spending on the legislative races, because the expansion of the program depends on the legislature remaining in the Republicans' control