Property tax bills should list costs of voucher schools

When people in Wisconsin get their annual property tax bill, they typically have little idea where all their hard-earned money is going. Some of it is broken down. For La Crosse taxpayers, the tax bills outline how much of their property taxes is going to fund their city and county governments, as well as their local school district, and the technical colleges. But what they don’t see is the cost of funding the state’s growing voucher school program. Vouchers allow Wisconsin students to enroll in private schools at taxpayer expense. The number of students enrolled in the program continues to grow, as have the costs to taxpayers, to the tune of $300 million per year. But individual taxpayers have no clue how much of their tax money goes to fund those voucher schools. That is why some state lawmakers want to require that individual property tax bills include a breakdown of how much of their taxes are going to fund private education. By requiring the numbers, taxpayers would be able to see how much more money their local schools would be receiving, instead of being funneled to students seeking a private education. They would see that voucher schools bleed valuable resources from public schools, pushing up property taxes and forcing more school districts to turn to voters for more money in referendums. Requiring the numbers seems reasonable. That would provide more transparency about how our tax money is being spent. And who could argue with that?