Blog 11: School Vouchers

In December of 2010, State Superintendent Tony Evers was interested in the idea of increasing vouchers and virtual charter schools.  He agreed with then Governor-elect Scott Walker’s plan to expanding these options for families and suggested that it would be beneficial to the students.  Since he came into office, Governor Walker has been doing what appears to be everything he can to attack public education.  It is obvious that Governor Walker is not interested in maintaining a quality public education system in Wisconsin after all of the attacks he has been launching against educators and public workers.  Governor Walker wants to demolish public education by taking away the rights of teachers, drastically reducing the budget for public schools, and expanding school voucher programs and creating more virtual charter schools.  Even though virtual charter schools are getting popular, they have not proven to be more successful and effective than public schools.

 In the Badger Herald, it was reported that the caps were going to be lifted for the number of students to be able to receive vouchers and go to virtual schools; this could potentially mean that more and more students will be going to private schools funded by public government money.  Unfortunately, these private schools are not held accountable for the achievement of their students, and many are less rigorous than their public school counterparts.

In May, 2011, the Green Bay Press Gazette reported that Tony Evers did not agree with the expansion of the vouchers program.  Superintendent Evers had changed his position on this controversial topic in reaction to the deep public education budget cuts in Wisconsin.  Evers strongly stated that he does not agree with Walker’s budget decision for public education.  Governor Walker wants to take away money from public education and invest it in private schools.  Public education has proven to be effective if funded appropriately.  Tony Evers supports public education and states that instead of funding private charter schools taxpayers’ money should be going to public education.

-Marco Olson Guillén