The state Department of Public Instruction says 48 private schools and school systems have registered to accept students for the 2013-14 school year under Wisconsin’s new Parental Choice Program. The list of nonsectarian and religious schools includes 15 private systems and nine schools that participated in the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program during the 2012-13 school year.
Parents looking to enroll students in schools that have applied for the program will have from August 1-9 to apply online. If more than 500 students apply by the end of the application period, only the 25 schools with the highest number of applications will be able to participate in the first year of the program.
The Wisconsin Parental Choice Program was approved under the state budget signed by Governor Walker earlier this summer. It allows students whose family income is below 185-percent of the federal poverty level and who reside outside the Milwaukee and Racine school districts to apply for taxpayer-funded vouchers to attend participating private schools without paying tuition. Schools that accept vouchers students will receive state aid payments of $6,442 for each eligible student.