The number of students using taxpayer-funded vouchers to go to private schools is up almost eight percent this year.
Green Bay’s Catholic School system GRACE has the most students of any in the state, with nearly 270. St. Francis Xavier of Appleton has the second most at 195.
Deacon Ray DuBois is the president of the Xavier system. He says more than half of their voucher students weren’t in their schools before the program started. He says they make sure their parishes let people know about the vouchers and the income eligibility requirements.
There are more than 4,500 in the statewide program. Including the Milwaukee and Racine voucher students, the total is over 36,000, and the cost is almost $270 million. That’s $25.5 million more than last year.
Eleven percent of all private school students in the statewide program receive a voucher.
