The MacIver Institute – Racine Choice Program serves Kids in Need
The Racine Parental Choice Program: Myths
Myth:
The Racine school choice program will take money out of the Racine Unified
School District (RUSD).
Fact:
RUSD will not lose a penny of spending authority because of the choice program.
The Racine program will be funded in part through the RUSD tax levy at the rate of
$2,474 per-pupil. Total Racine Unified spending is not impacted. RUSD only loses
spending authority when students choose to leave the district for any reason.
Myth:
Racine taxpayers will pay a $10 million voucher tax.
Fact:
The property taxes used to pay for the Racine choice program are $1,053 less for
each choice pupil than for a RUSD pupil ($2,474 vs. $3,527). In addition, the $10
million estimate assumes that more than 4,000 students will be using the choice program
in three years. In Milwaukee, a school district four times the size of RUSD, it took eight
years for the program to grow to 4,000 pupils.
Myth:
The Racine Choice Program will “cream” Racine Unified’s best students.
Fact:
This has not happened in Milwaukee. The School Choice Demonstration Project,
the official evaluator of the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program, concluded in a 2011
report that “far from skimming the ‘cream of the crop,’ the Choice program serves a
group of students who are more disadvantaged educationally than the average MPS
student.”
Myth:
Students using the choice program would have been in private schools anyway.
Fact:
Research suggests that families making under 300% of the federal poverty level,
the income threshold for school choice in Racine, are unlikely to purchase private
education. According to the School Choice Demonstration Project, “…research
indicates that no more than 10 percent of low-income urban students attend private
schools without the assistance of a voucher.” While there are different definitions of
low-income, 300% of the federal poverty level is the highest eligibility threshold to
receive BadgerCare in Wisconsin.
Myth:
RUSD will be unable to find savings when students leave the district for choice.
Fact:
The state funding formula protects districts from the fiscal impact of losing
students. RUSD will not lose full spending authority for students that leave the district
until three year after they are gone.
Myth:
Schools in the choice program will not serve special needs students.
Fact:
Schools that participate in the Racine choice program cannot screen students for
special needs. The School Choice Demonstration Project found that almost nine percent
of students using the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program have special nee
