In Wisconsin, A Proposal To Decouple Public And Private School Systems
From Forbes.com
Two new bills AB688/SB652 (for independent charter schools) and AB900/SB838 (for voucher schools) are both knee-deep in thick wonk language, but as supporters explain, the point of the bills is “decoupling choice spending from public school spending.” Under these bills, public schools would be funded via real estate tax monies, while choice schools would be funded from General Purpose Revenue.
The Wisconsin Institue for Liberty and Law is a conservative, libertarian law firm funded in part by the pro-school choice Bradley Foundation. In an article supporting the bills, WILL argues that decoupling would protect the choice movement from charges that they are taking money away from public schools.
They also argue that decoupling would protect choice programs from constitutional challenges. Wisconsin, similar to several other states, has a constitutional requirement that property tax revenue be used “to the support and maintenance of common schools, in each school district...” While Wisconsin courts have found that the choice programs put enough steps between taxpayer and private schools to avoid violating the constitution, courts in other states with similar constitutional restrictions have thrown out voucher programs (Kentucky and South Carolina are two recent examples). The proposed decoupling would insulate Wisconsin’s choice programs from such court action.
In essence, decoupling the funding would create two separate education systems in Wisconsin. The taxpayer funding of each could take different paths, with one system’s funding being boosted while the other stagnates.
As a general principle, I’d argue that all school funding should be drawn from State general revenue rather than property tax. That source would, in theory, provide more equitable funding across the board.
Of course, if this two tier plan goes through it would would raise some rather strong equal protection issues for the courts.