School Choice Week in Wisconsin:  Online Charters a Proud Part of Landscape

By Ty Babinski

Despite a gut-wrenching Packers loss on Sunday, Wisconsinites have reason to celebrate.

It’s School Choice Week!

While the push for greater parental empowerment must continue, it’s also a good time to reflect on how far our state has come. We have near year-round open enrollment. We have a healthy and robust statewide school choice program. Many districts have embraced charter schools and offer parents a variety of educational options.

The pandemic has choked off some of this choice. And some districts’ online offerings have been less than acceptable. It is important here to note the difference between online charter schools that were created from the ground up to serve students using internet-based platforms, and the sometimes scattershot zoom-based lectures upon which some traditional brick and mortar schools have been relying since March.

I volunteer to help coordinate the thousands of families who CHOOSE virtual schools for their students. They exercise school choice, selecting schools whose teachers are trained how to reach kids, even if they aren’t physically in the same space. Schools whose curricula were developed to be administered via an online platform. Students have been thriving in these schools in Wisconsin and across the country for almost two decades.  These schools operate across the state, and I’m happy to say parents who wish to choose to educate their children online have a lot of options in Wisconsin.

Created and led by parent volunteers, our Wisconsin Coalition of Virtual School Families was formed to protect educational choices here and make sure parents’ and families’ voices are heard in the Capitol and around the state.

Together with our fellow parents, families, teachers, and friends, we educate policy makers and others on why we chose a virtual school for our children; how these schools work; the close, working relationship we have with our teachers and administrators; and more. We are proud allies with and often work alongside a wide array of organizations that champion educational options for Wisconsin families, including School Choice Wisconsin, The Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty, The MacIver Institute, The Badger Institute, The American Federation for Children and more.

Every Wisconsin family is unique. Every student has unique needs. We should trust parents with a wide array of options and resources to allow their students the best possible opportunity to thrive.

The WCVSF believes when you empower parents with options for their young learners, Wisconsin is a better state. We oppose efforts to limit parental choices in education, specifically those that target public and private school choice, open enrollment and special needs scholarship programs. 

We’ve been subject to such mistrust in the past (years ago several powerful, well-funded political forces almost successfully shut down all online schools here!) We believe efforts to limit educational options in Wisconsin show a distrust of Wisconsin’s parents and leave kids in the crosshairs of a political battle where the best interests of children are often not a priority.  

When educational options are limited, Wisconsin loses. Conversely, when parents are trusted with the educational direction and choices for their children, Wisconsin Wins.

Thanks to our efforts and the foresight of some Governors and dozens of legislators who have served the interests of Wisconsin families over the last three decades, most Wisconsin families have a choice.  There is, of course, still work to do here. For example, there are still income and accessibility barriers that must be overcome, and our virtual charter students deserve the same access to their home districts’ extra curricular offerings as homeschooled kids have.  But, as we celebrate School Choice Week across the nation, we should acknowledge and appreciate the fact that Wisconsin families have more options than do our peers in several other states across the country.

So, on behalf of the Wisconsin Coalition of Virtual School Families, let me say, happy School Choice Week. Here’s to making more and more leaders feel proud and comfortable to proclaim. “I Trust Parents!”

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Ty Babinski, of West Salem, is the President of the Wisconsin Coalition for Virtual School families. www.wivirtualschoolfamilies.org  



Online Public Charter School Advocates Join School Choice Coalition in Sounding the Alarm Over Onerous, Anti-Parent Budget Proposals

Online Public Charter School Advocates Join School Choice Coalition in Sounding the Alarm Over Onerous, Anti-Parent Budget Proposals

Wisconsin Coalition of Virtual School Families to Hold Capitol Day Tuesday


[MADISON…] An attack of the private school choice and special needs scholarships in Wisconsin is being opposed by a group of committed public charter school advocates.

“We, too, have been the target of arbitrary enrollment caps and heartless attempts by the education bureaucracy to slowly choke away opportunities for our kids,” said Ty Babinski, President of the Wisconsin Coalition of Virtual School Families. “We oppose these latest attempts to squash education reform; they are a step backwards, do not help children and are a signal that bureaucrats do not trust parents. We may not be in the crosshairs yet, but if opponents of parents get momentum, we know we’re likely next.”

The WCVSF is holding their annual Capitol Day in Madison on Tuesday. Students, teachers and parents will bring their message directly to the Governor and lawmakers.

The budget introduced by Governor Tony Evers includes the following policy changes.

  • Callously freezes the number of slots available in the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program, the Racine Parental Choice Program, and the Wisconsin Parental Choice Program in Fiscal Year 2021 based on Fiscal Year 2020 headcount

  • Arbitrarily halts the authority of entities to authorize new independent charter schools without permission from DPI and freezes the authority of the Office of Educational Opportunity to authorize new schools from the enactment of the budget through July 1, 2023

  • Incredulously prevents new students from enrolling in the Special Needs Scholarship Program (SNSP) beginning in FY21

School Choice Wisconsin and the Wisconsin Federation for Children welcome the support of the WCVSF and vow to continue their efforts to remove these provisions from the budget.

“This budget puts politics ahead of children with unnecessary friction over how a child is educated,” said Jim Bender, President of School Choice Wisconsin. "Public charter school parents have faced these same misguided political battles over the last 15 years. We welcome their support in our efforts.”

The American Federation for Children says the collaboration is appreciated.

“The Governor’s proposal to “freeze” the parental program and limit charter school expansion with arbitrary caps is somewhat duplicitous and malevolent.  The program is already “capped” every year by the amount of demand,” said Justin Moralez, Wisconsin State Director, American Federation for Children. “Just because families continue to embrace education options outside of their assigned school does not mean the Government should step in and seize control from a parent over what is the best learning environment for their child.  This limits success and opportunity. We look forward to collective cross-sector collaboration and hope that it helps enhance the achievement of all schools.”

The Wisconsin Coalition of Virtual School families will be visiting lawmakers’ offices and dropping off letters to them and Governor Evers on Tuesday morning.


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About the Wisconsin Coalition of Virtual School Families

Created and led by parent volunteers, this nonprofit coalition was formed in 2005 to protect Wisconsin’s educational choices and make sure parents’ and families’ voices are heard in the Capitol and around the state. We have successfully fought for the utilization of online education in Wisconsin schools and for the legalization of online public charter schools. We encourage and salute policy makers who are willing to say, “I Trust Parents,” and who then back up their words with pro-education reform actions.

About School Choice Wisconsin

It is a top priority of School Choice Wisconsin to be the leading resource for schools regarding their involvement in Wisconsin’s parental choice programs. Wisconsin’s school choice programs serve more than 30,000 students annually at more than 200 participating schools throughout the state. With offices in the Milwaukee area and Madison, School Choice Wisconsin’s experienced staff works with schools, parents and communities interested in school choice programs in Wisconsin. Primary roles include: providing program research, acting as a conduit between schools and the state government, creating community awareness and advising on program administration.

About Federation for Children Wisconsin

Federation for Children Wisconsin is a non-profit organization dedicated to advocating for school choice, which empowers parents to choose the best educational environment for their children, so all children, particularly low-income children, have access to a better, quality education—whether that’s at a public school, private school, charter school, home school or any other learning environment parents choose. We are a project of the American Federation for Children (AFC). For over 25 years, AFC has revolutionized the K-12 system in an effort to take it to a 21st century model where all children, regardless of their socio-economic status, have access to a quality education

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