Wisconsin voters must decide if they want to keep school choice for their kids

Two Democratic gubernatorial candidates in Wisconsin, former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes and state representative Francesca Hong, recently pledged during a town hall to eliminate the school choice program. Also seeking to end the voucher system is a simpatico, progressive legal organization, Law Forward, which filed a lawsuit.

The Dairy State’s educational opportunity has been available to families since 1990, when Gov. Tommy Thompson joined civil rights groups to pass legislation and create the country’s first school-choice voucher program.

Now, about 36 years later, the success of this program and similar ones across the nation is clear, with as many as 23 states and the District of Columbia offering such options. These include diverse voting populations in Maryland and Maine, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Vermont, Mississippi, and Arkansas. 

A similar school voucher program has also been offered in my home state of Florida since the 1900s. And in 2023, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) signed House Bill 1, which established universal school choice by eliminating previous financial eligibility restrictions and removing a prior enrollment cap. The results have been nothing less than remarkable.

School choice proponents often focus on better-quality K-12 education. They also commonly cite safety as another advantage. Both are true. But the benefits don’t end there. Research also undeniably shows that students who participate in such voucher systems generally reap additional benefits, including higher college enrollment and degree completion rates. 

In fact, the Urban Institute examined data from the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship program and subsequently discovered that “low-income Florida students who attended private schools using an FTC scholarship enrolled in and graduated from Florida colleges at a higher rate than their public school counterparts.”

The study reported that, compared to traditional public school students, FTC program participants outpaced their peers, exceeding the traditional public school students’ college enrollment rate of 51% by 57%. What’s more, 20% more FTC participants earned their bachelor’s degree.

Longevity also plays a pivotal role. Students who spent all four years of high school at a private school through the scholarship had four-year college enrollment rates that essentially doubled those of their matched public school peers.

Now, some politicians and activist groups in Wisconsin seek to end such school voucher programs. But student outcomes in Florida prove such systems work. 

And in other states, such as Arizona, which offers an Empowerment Scholarship Account, parents of the 100,000 student participants report higher satisfaction with these programs. Meanwhile, in Vermont, students in rural towns without local schools can use public funds for neighboring public or approved private schools, providing access to diverse curricula, smaller class sizes, and specialized programs — benefiting those students.

Even though broad statewide metrics often fail to capture the full picture, research focused specifically on students who actually use vouchers paints a much more encouraging one for postsecondary success. A 2025 Urban Institute study of Ohio’s EdChoice program, for instance, found that lower-income voucher recipients were 32% more likely to enroll in college and 60% more likely to earn a bachelor’s degree than matched public school peers, according to a report by Excel In Ed.

So, not only does school choice empower parents, but it also gives kids more college opportunities and, ultimately, educational and career success.

Owen E. Richason IV is the author of “S4: Students, Schools, Social Media, & Success” and “The College Merit Scholarship Appeal Guide”. Owen is also a writer for the St. Pete-Clearwater Sun and has contributed to the Houston Chronicle, San Francisco Gate, AOL, BAM magazine, Boss magazine, and Tampa Bay Business Insider.