Special Ed Vouchers Won’t End Discrimination
By Karyn Rotker, Courtney Bowie and Monica Murphy
May 8, 2013 MJS
T. was a kindergartner with a medical disorder that caused toilet difficulties. Despite her mother’s pleas, her teacher wouldn’t allow her to use the bathroom as needed – and humiliated her by discussing her problems publicly.A. was a 9-year-old who sometimes wouldn’t speak. Her teacher left her sitting by herself in a corner of the classroom.
S. was a 4-year-old receiving speech and language services. When his mother met with administrators to enroll him in school, they tried to talk her out of it.
K. was an 8-year-old with attention deficition hyperactivity disorder. A school refused to admit him unless
Grandparents know vouchers don’t work
Wisconsin is marching inexorably down a path toward two separate publicly-funded education systems for our k-12 students. One is our traditional public schools; the other, private voucher schools largely funded by taxpayer dollars.
The school voucher program began in 1990 under Governor Tommy Thompson with a modest investment in Milwaukee. 337 students, all low-income, used vouchers valued at $734,000 ($2,178/voucher) to attend seven private, nonsectarian schools. Since then, the voucher program has grown exponentially. Funding last year equaled $158M and provided vouchers worth $6,442 to 24,000 students who attended private/parochial schools in Racine and Milwaukee.
In the next two years, the program expansion, if approved by the State legislature, will spread to at least nine more school districts, including Madison. 29,000 students will participate. Funding will increase to $209M – an almost 300-fold increase since inception. Public school funding, over that time span, has increased only three-fold.
Vouchers will be available to a family of four with an income of almost $78,000/year. In addition, these students may always have been private school students. Once students secure a voucher, they have that voucher in subsequent years no matter how high the family income. This policy generates a separate system, subsidizing private education at taxpayer expense with no accountability to, nor approval from, that taxpayer.
Are vouchers worth the price? No! Studies show that academic performance among voucher students is no better than that of students in public schools. In a 2011 study, the independent Wisconsin Legislative Audit Bureau determined that 75% of students who entered