Wisconsin’s Governor Puts the Public-School Monopoly before Families

Recently, Wisconsin governor Tony Evers vetoed a bill that would have expanded access to a statewide school-choice program that funds students instead of systems. The governor’s veto protects the K–12 public-school monopoly at the expense of families — and it comes at the tail end of a year in which the public sector repeatedly failed to provide students with adequate in-person services.

Wisconsin families living in Milwaukee and Racine can currently take a portion of the tax dollars earmarked for the children’s education to the private school of their choosing if they earn 300 percent of the federal poverty level or less (about $66,000 for a family of three). But for families living in the rest of the state, that threshold is significantly lower. The bill that Governor Evers blocked, Assembly Bill 59, would have rectified that discrepancy, applying the 300 percent cutoff to the entire state.