The Eau Claire County Board was asked to endorse a resolution saluting “School Choice Week,” but homeowners turned out to denounce the loss of money from their public schools that was sent to voucher schools.
One after another, homeowners asked why they were supporting two school systems, why the money intended for their public schools was being diverted to religious schools, why their taxes were being used to subsidize the tuition of students who had never attended public schools.
That discussion followed a report by the state Department of Public Instruction showing Wisconsin taxpayers will spend $349.6 million on school vouchers this school year, up from $302 million the previous year. A total of 43,450 students are receiving voucher funds this year, an increase of 3,411, or 8.5 percent, from last school year..
Concerns about the impact of that funding shift on public schools surfaced at a December meeting of the Eau Claire County Board, where residents spoke against a resolution proclaiming Jan. 26 to Feb. 1 as Eau Claire County “School Choice Week.” Speakers told board supervisors that school choice is just another term for voucher schools, and that taxpayer funding for those schools hurts Wisconsin’s public schools.
After hearing from eight speakers, County Board supervisors voted 24-2 against the measure. The city of Eau Claire is home not only to a public school district but to the Regis Catholic Schools system, where 182 of the 800 students (22.8 percent) enrolled this school year receive voucher scholarships, according to DPI data.
The County Board action in Eau Claire is a sign that public school advocates are being increasingly vocal about the expansion of private school vouchers at the expense of public school districts and making taxpayers fund two different education systems.
Yes, your voice matters. Speak up against the diversion of money from public schools to privately operated charters and religious school vouchers.
Eight homeowners spoke out, and the board voted 24-2 NOT to pass a resolution supporting “school choice week.”
“School Choice Week” is “Defund Public Schools” week.
Do not celebrate the underfunding of your public schools!
Diane Ravitch's blog 
You get what you vote for and what you were, for too long, indifferent to . . . . Maybe the conservative dairy landers will now wake up from all that heavy cream and cheese . . . .
key word, indifferent
I believe taxpayers across the nation are becoming aware of higher property taxes due to privatization. I have recently read comments on social media complaining about the transfer of local funds to support charters and/or vouchers. These people are not angry at public schools. They are angry at legislators that fail to be good stewards of public funds.
The irrational defense of vouchers is pushing some people to question the practice of sending public money to schools of questionable value. Some people now also realize that a large amount of voucher funds go to those that would have sent their children to private schools without a voucher. These people are using public money to reduce the tuition payments they would have paid anyway. It costs more to provide so many options for students, and public schools and taxpayers are forced to pay for the burden of poor policy.
A free market is not guided by government subsidy.
It is irrational to have 2 or 3 systems subsidized by government.
The US government subsidizes the US Postsl Service. Thank goodness it is not subsidizing FEDEX and UPS as well.
where I live, UPS and Fedex use the postal service to save them money, delivering many of their packages through the mail. I really do not understand this.
Amazon also uses the US Postal Service in rural and under served areas. Amazon subcontracts some of its more challenging deliveries and some of its Sunday deliveries as well to the US Post Office.
“Wisconsin Catholic Conference- the Public Policy Voice of the Catholic Church in Wisconsin…a statewide response to issues common to its five dioceses…removal of the freeze on the Parent Choice Program beginning in the 2020-21 school year.”
Under the “Advocacy” tab, “Catholics in the Capitol”.
Good for the homeowners! Noe, they need to rally and vote out all of those who voted for this resolution.