Taxpayer-funded payments to children choosing to attend private schools using a voucher will increase an estimated $217 per-student in each of the next two years.
And those payments will continue to exceed per-student state aid for Wisconsin's public schools.
New estimates were prepared by the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau and released Monday by Democrats opposed to the voucher program.
The Fiscal Bureau numbers show that the average voucher payment for a K-8 student next year will be $7,540 and $8,186 for a high school student. That compares with $6,703 in per-student state aid sent to public schools.
School choice advocates responded by noting that public schools also benefit from local property tax revenue, which combined with state aid topped $10,300 per-student this year school.
