An ongoing series of articles and videos featuring the stories of Wisconsin parents seeking the best education options for their kids.
Education Freedom: One minute at a time
Parents and educators share unique perspectives, trends and practices on how education freedom has made school a success for their students and communities — each in sixty seconds or less.
Watch here.
The charter school giving Beloit kids a future — and how to properly fund it
Beloit families needed better options when it came to educating their children. A charter school, The Lincoln Academy, only two years old, is providing them — even as it works in the underfunded part of public education.
Celebrating character by closing Wisconsin’s school funding gap
Kindness. Respect. Integrity. Character.
Parents long for schools where virtues like these are taught and celebrated.
But due to Wisconsin’s school funding gap, it can be difficult for high-character schools to meet parent demand.
Learn more and watch the video below.
Funding gap: Wisconsin choice and charter schools shortchanged
Parents and administrators at private choice and independent public charter schools start with the philosophical belief that all children have value and that their worth does not depend on the type of school they attend. Yet, these schools are starting from a financial deficit. The reality is they receive a fraction of the per-pupil funding compared to traditional public schools.
Close the funding gap and, in the words of Kingdom Prep principal Kevin Festerling, “We could open up five more of these [schools] tomorrow. We could say yes to more parents and more students.”
Some public schools ARE underfunded
Innovation in public education is a good thing. You can hear it in the voices of students from Pathways High, where diverse needs are met through personal attention and creative collaboration.
The state sends a different signal, however — especially when it comes to funding those students.
Independent charter schools like Pathways are public schools. Yet they receive thousands of dollars less per student than traditional public schools.
For kids like Gianna, Mariel and Darcel, the message is loud and clear. You are immediately worth less when your needs are different.
That’s why, in the words of Board President Julia Burns, “The state Legislature needs to get to funding parity for these schools.”
“Bottom line.”
Read the article and watch the video below.
One Mom’s wish for educational opportunity
As a single mom, Nancy Nieto needed more than a school. She needed a place where her children would excel and be treated like family.
That’s exactly what she found at St. Thomas More — a Green Bay school that participates in the Wisconsin Parental Choice Program. There, the welcoming environment, quality instruction and personal attention are a tremendous blessing to parents like Nancy.
Nancy’s hope is that more schools in Wisconsin would be a blessing to kids like hers. And many schools would . . . if they received the same amount of funding that public schools receive per student.
“Make it about the children”
Lisa and Jack McCloskey of Watertown are ecstatic that their 14-year-old daughter, Grace, is enrolled in a public, independent charter school that is allowing her to flourish. Grace has Down syndrome and speech apraxia, and was traumatized by COVID restrictions in her previous school that left her isolated and confused. They say Lake Country Classical Academy in Oconomowoc was a “godsend.”
Unfortunately, systemic funding inequities between types of schools remain. While students with special needs are eligible for state categorical aids and federal aid while attending either an independent charter or traditional public school, local and state funding for traditional public schools exceeds that of independent charter schools by thousands of dollars per student.
These disparities add up, making it difficult for choice and charter schools to provide the same level of resources as traditional public schools. The McCloskeys have a message for Wisconsin lawmakers: “Make it about the children.”
Read the article and watch the video below.
Funding Wisconsin students for lives of purpose
Parents are hungry for schools where opportunity abounds — where kids are taught to lead lives of purpose for the good of their families, their communities and their futures.
Yet, it’s difficult to create that opportunity when Wisconsin students are so inequitably funded. Students attending choice schools are funded at 60% the value of their public-school counterparts, meaning schools must spend time and energy raising funds in order to provide the quality education that every child deserves.
So, instead of playing favorites, why not fund what should matter most to everybody in the Badger State? Students and the lives of purpose they choose to create.
Read the article and watch the video below.
“A child is a child is a child”
Wisconsin children can receive dramatically different education funding depending on where their parents chose to send them to school.
Some families in Green Bay use Wisconsin’s parental choice program to send their children to St. Thomas More, a school that helps them exercise the religious liberty they gained by coming to America. “It is a great opportunity that has been given to us,” as one mother said.
So, why are these children worth less to Wisconsin?
Read the article and watch the video below.
“Choice schools have a higher standard”
Chershanta Smith can’t imagine her daughter, Gabrielle, attending school anywhere other than St. Marcus Lutheran School in Milwaukee’s Brewer’s Hill neighborhood. And that’s not only because she believes her daughter is receiving an excellent education at St. Marcus through the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program, but because the school’s community has embraced and supported her entire family. She teared up when describing a financial empowerment program the school offers that has helped her family improve their finances to the point where they are close to being able to purchase a home for the first time.
Read the article and watch the video below.
School choice helps family rebound after tragedy
At the start of the pandemic in 2020, Wishkub Kinepoway faced two family crises with some crying, some praying and a lot of determination. A member of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians and a Shawano County transplant, Kinepoway knew she needed to make a change for her children. She also knew that change wouldn’t come without school choice.
Read the article and watch the video below.
“Such a blessing”
Elita Williams and her daughter Brielle sit down with for a Q&A with veteran journalist Marilyn Krause to talk about the benefits to their family of being able to choose a school and education program for the children and the key role the choice program plays in providing access and funding to attend a private school.
Read the article and watch the video below.
Parents don’t have to settle for a race to mediocrity
Scarlett Johnson is active in trying to reform her children’s school district. She sits down with Badger Institute Policy Director Patrick McIlheran to explain what drives her to act on behalf of her local schools, and why more parents should do so.
Read the article and watch the video below.
An Epidemic of Decline
Cheryle Rebholz is in the initial stages of starting a new independent charter school, North Shore Classical Academy. She sits down with Badger Institute President Mike Nichols to explain why a new charter school is needed in her area, why parents are already clamoring to sign up their kids and why the politicians should provide the same amount of funding for students at charter and voucher schools as they provide for students at traditional public schools.
Read the article and watch the story below.
