9:55 a.m.
Democratic Gov. Tony Evers’ plan to freeze enrollment in Wisconsin’s program that allows students to attend private schools using a taxpayer-funded voucher is drawing opposition.
School Choice Wisconsin president Jim Bender said Monday that the proposal “will not result in better academic outcomes for anyone.” Instead, the choice program advocate says the governor’s plan will “pour gas on the fire of opposition for those who view the education of our children through a singular, political lens.”
The conservative law firm Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty also came out against the proposal.
The group’s executive vice president CJ Szafir (ZAY-fur) says the plan will “end school choice as Wisconsin knows it.” He calls it a political move that will only help teachers’ unions, not students.
Evers, the former state schools chief, has been a longtime critic of voucher schools.
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8:24 a.m.
Gov. Tony Evers wants to cap enrollment in Wisconsin’s private voucher school program, ending expansions that Republicans have enacted over the past eight years.
Evers was to include the proposal as part of the state budget he introduces on Thursday. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel first reported on Evers’ voucher school plans Monday.
Evers also is calling for suspending creation of any new independent charter schools until 2023.
The proposals are unlikely to pass in the Legislature, where Republicans in control have prioritized growing the voucher and charter school programs.
Evers also plans to require that businesses receiving tax incentives for major economic development programs disclose major changes to their plans. Also, businesses could not use tax dollars to move jobs out of state.
WisPolitics.com first reported on that proposal Saturday.
