Jensen and Underwood squared off as part of a discussion on the lessons learned from a quarter century of school vouchers in Wisconsin, moderated by Alan Borsuk, a longtime education journalist and fellow at the law school.
Wisconsin’s is the largest voucher program in the country with 261 schools and more than 33,700 students taking part. As part of the program, students receive state-funded vouchers of $7,232 or $7,969, depending on the grade, to attend private schools, most of them religious.
“Nearly a quarter of all children in the city of Milwaukee receiving a publicly funded education are doing so through
Voucher schools spend substantially less per student than traditional K-12 schools.
Madison’s traditional public schools spend about $18,000 per student, well Wisconsin voucher schools spend less than that.