School Choice Produces Better Outcomes With Less Taxpayer Money In Wisconsin, Report Finds

School choice programs could improve education outcomes for students while costing taxpayers less, a newly released report found.

Private schools in Wisconsin’s school choice programs receive less revenue per pupil than the state’s public schools but produce consistently higher achievement outcomes, according to a report by School Choice Wisconsin released on Tuesday.

The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction’s (DPI) 2023-2024 district report card, which rates schools on a 0-100 scale based on factors such as achievement growth, student test scores and on-track graduation rates, shows three of Wisconsin’s school choice programs outperform their public counterparts while receiving substantially less money per pupil, the report found.

Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) received a 55.7 rating compared to the private schools in the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program (MPCP), which received an average rating of 70.8. Furthermore, those in the choice program received an average of $11,905 per pupil compared to $16,442 per pupil in the public school system, making the school choice program 76% more productive, the report found.

“DPI gives choice schools higher Report Card scores even though they receive substantially less revenue,” Brenda White, chair of the School Choice Wisconsin Board of Directors, said in a statement. “School choice is Wisconsin’s most cost-effective K-12 investment.”

In the Racine Parental Choice Program (RPCP), schools scored an average of 72.7 compared to Racine Unified School District’s (RUSD) 61.3, making RPCP 46% more productive when taking into account its $11,905 per pupil revenue compared to RUSD’s $14,629.

In the statewide Wisconsin Parental Choice Program (WPCP), private schools averaged a 71.8 score compared to statewide public schools, excluding MSP and RUSD, receiving a 69.8. The average per-pupil revenue for statewide public schools was $15,340 compared to WPCP’s $11,905, making the private school program 33% more productive.

“DPI’s favorable ranking of school choice confirms that Wisconsin’s education policy should be grounded in giving parents options,” Scott Manley, executive vice president of government relations at Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, who co-chairs the Wisconsin Coalition for Education Freedom, said in a prepared statement.

The report also found that students enrolled in private schools earned better test scores than their public counterparts, and the private schools produced higher achievement growth for students.

MPCP had an overall achievement score of 40.6, with an English Language Arts (ELA) achievement score of 44.4 and a math achievement score of 36.8, according to DPI’s 2023-2024 data. MPS had an overall achievement score of 22.3, with a 25.6 score in ELA and an 18.9 in math.

RPCP had an overall achievement score of 51.9, with an ELA score of 52.9 and a math achievement score of 50.9. RUSD had only a 34.2 overall achievement score, with a 38.1 in ELA and 30.1 in math.

However, on a statewide scale, public schools have an overall achievement score of 64.2 compared to WPCP’s 62.8, with school choice students outside of the Milwaukee and Racine districts only outscoring their public school counterparts once in the previous six years. In Milwaukee and Racine, school choice students outscored their public counterparts over the past six years.

DPI’s metric for measuring growth among students at different schools still shows school choice students outscore their public counterparts nearly every time statewide, the report stated.