Wisconsin state superintendent calls for school choice to be 'eliminated'
"So, school choice actually sounds like a pretty nice thing, doesn't it?" Underly said at a school event in mid-March, according to PBS Wisconsin. "Like, who shouldn't have a choice, right? But really, what it is in Wisconsin is, it's privatization of public schools."
PBS's Steven Potter pressed Underly on her stance on school choice on Friday, asking, "So where do you stand on the voucher school system? Do you want to see it eliminated?"
Underly responded, "Ultimately, yes, I would like to see it eliminated. We are spending so much money on it that it's taking money from our public schools."
Underly was first elected to serve as Wisconsin's State Superintendent of Public Instruction in 2021.
During her first run, it was discovered that she sent her children to private school from 2013-2015; they subsequently attended the Pecatonica School District when she became its superintendent in 2015.
"Like most families, my husband and I have balanced our careers, our child care needs, our transportation needs, and our kids' schools," Underly explained at the time. "I was happy to have my very young children in Catholic school in my own parish when they were in kindergarten, and our district didn't then offer all-day pre-K, and then their needs were better met by public schools as they became elementary-aged."
Underly's opponent, Brittany Kinser, a former special education teacher and elementary school principal who continues to work in education, has said she supports school choice.
She told the WisconsinEye in an interview, "I believe in our traditional public schools, open enrollment, our private school voucher program, public charter schools, virtual schooling, homeschooling ... all those options for families so they can choose what's best for their child."
Wisconsin's first school choice program was enacted in 1989 for students in the City of Milwaukee with a family income less than 175% of the federal poverty level and has been expanded throughout the decades.
Today, Wisconsin's school choice programs are open to all students, subject to residency, prior year attendance and income limits.
Will Flanders, research director at Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty told Fox News Digital that Underly's perspective that school choice is too expensive is wrong.
"Wisconsin's school choice programs are all significantly cheaper for taxpayers than public schools in the state," Flanders said. "Choice schools only receive about 75% of the funding per student that public schools do. Dr. Underly is either lying or misinformed."
Corey DeAngelis, a senior fellow at the American Culture Project and visiting fellow at the American Institute for Economic Research, told Fox News Digital in a statement that parents have more control over their money with school choice.
"School choice doesn't take money from public schools," DeAngelis said. "Public schools take money from families. Wisconsin school choice programs just return the money to the hands of the rightful owners."
Fox News Digital reached out to both Underly and Kinser for comment, but did not immediately receive a response.
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