If you live in one of the thirty or so states that send public funds to support unaccountable private schools, you don’t have to listen closely to hear that “giant sucking sound” as your tax dollars go down the proverbial drain.
Here’s just a clip from some extensive, great reporting, as always, by ProPublica:
. . . . Atlas Preparatory Academy in Milwaukee was a 100% school in my city that had low test scores and declining enrollment while also receiving more than $4.3 million in voucher money for 357 students in grades K-12. It was one of the first schools I dug into, and immediately some of the facts I unearthed in public documents made me curious.
There was, for instance, the money being made by its board chair, who also appeared to serve as a school administrator. His compensation was more than $150,000 in 2024.
This dual role would be prohibited at a traditional public school in Wisconsin, though there are no such rules for private schools.
In another transaction that would raise alarm in a public school setting, the same board chair’s accounting firm received tens of thousands of dollars from the school for accounting and consulting.
During my reporting, it became clear that the school’s operations were not only discordant with public school policies but with basic governing standards for nonprofits, experts told me.
More than a decade ago, a Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction research paper on what it called “choice schools” asked: “When is a private school really a public school?”
Though that question still resonates today, public officials supporting vouchers have yet to provide a clear answer. . . .
