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Dems Hammer Voucher Expansion; Support $275 Increase
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | May 23, 2013
Democrat lawmakers hammered the voucher school provisions of the proposed budget during a Capitol press conference yesterday afternoon, delivering 16,809 petition signatures to the governor and JFC leaders seeking their complete removal from the bill.
“The voucher expansion has to stop, and it has to stop here,” said Rep. Sondy Pope, D-Middleton.
“The budget, in the end, is one more blast to the people who serve our children every day,” said Beloit schools superintendent Steve McNeal.
He said the nine districts targeted for additional choice programs are the state’s most urban and most diverse. Speaking about choice schools, he asked, “How will they be held accountable? They haven’t been up to this point.”
See the release.
Democrats yesterday also called for increasing per pupil funding for K-12 education by $275 in the budget bill.
“After the historic cuts to education funding in the last budget, increasing per pupil spending by $275 is a modest request,” said Senate Minority Leader Chris Larson, D-Milwaukee, in a statement. “While an additional $275 per student at our neighborhood, public schools will not fill the $1.6 billion hole created in the last budget, it is a step in the right direction.”
Rep. Pope said that increasing the per pupil funding level, however, would not lead Dems to back some form of voucher expansion, saying that that is “not a compromise we are willing to make.”
“We’ve got to get back to where we came from before we can advance,” Pope said.
See the release.
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