Charters Cost Less, Deliver More
President Trump’s moves in recent weeks to shrink the Department of Education have triggered many overwrought claims about the end of public education in the United States. Of course, that is not the case—public education existed long prior to the Department’s creation in 1980 and will exist long after. But research from Wisconsin suggests it may be time to rethink what "public education" is, and how it is delivered to Americans.
Returning education to the states will promote federalism and dispel the notion that "one size fits all." This doesn’t have to be a partisan issue either, and in a true purple state like Wisconsin, education reform is front and center.
The Badger State is home to the nation’s oldest school choice program in Milwaukee. Founded in 1990 by a coalition of liberals and conservatives fed up with the failures of Milwaukee Public Schools, it served as a model for other school choice efforts around the country in the decades to come. This long track record and a wealth of public data allow us to compare test scores between the private schools participating in choice, charter schools, and traditional public schools in a manner that puts them on a level playing field.
The most striking findings of the Apples to Apples report is that students in private choice schools consistently outperform their peers in traditional public schools, even after controlling for demographic factors such as income, race, and English language learner status. In Milwaukee, students in the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program (MPCP) demonstrated proficiency rates in reading and math that were approximately 14% higher than those of their public-school counterparts. Statewide, private-choice students also outperformed public-school students, with proficiency rates 8.57% higher in ELA and 5.42% higher in math. This is consistent with what we've found in past editions of this report.
The report also highlights the success of charter schools— public schools that are given some freedom from school district mandates—in Milwaukee. While the results for charter schools statewide were more mixed in other parts of the state, the overall trend suggests that charter schools, especially those with greater autonomy, can provide a high-quality education that rivals or exceeds that of traditional public schools.
These results are particularly important in Wisconsin, which persistently has the largest racial achievement gaps in the country on the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) in reading. The data also shows that school choice programs can help mitigate these disparities. In Milwaukee, where the achievement gaps are even more pronounced, private choice schools and charter schools are making significant strides in closing these gaps by having significantly higher student growth in our analysis. By providing low-income and minority students with access to high-quality educational options, school choice programs can help level the playing field and give these students a better chance to succeed academically. Contrary to popular narratives, school choice programs are not just serving students who are already high achievers—“creaming” the best students. Instead, they are helping lower-income students who may have fallen behind in traditional public schools catch up and reach their full potential.
In addition to delivering better academic outcomes, school choice programs are also a cost-effective solution for taxpayers. Private choice schools and charter schools receive significantly less funding per student than traditional public schools. For private schools, funding levels are about 71% of what the average public school gets in local and state dollars. For charter schools, that number is about 75% of public schools. Despite this funding disparity, these schools are achieving better results, providing a higher "bang for the buck" for taxpayers.
The findings of this report make a strong case for the expansion of school choice programs across the nation. While strong new programs have been built in states like Arizona and Tennessee, other conservative states like Texas have found it tough to get school choice across the finish line. The long-term success of these programs in Wisconsin demonstrates that school choice is not just a theoretical idea—it is a practical solution that is already delivering real results for students.
Our report is not the only one that finds this. Decades of academic research have found benefits of school choice in areas from academic achievement to civic knowledge to avoiding involvement in criminal behavior. By decentralizing education and empowering states to innovate, we can move beyond the "one size fits all" approach and embrace solutions that prioritize student success. Wisconsin’s experience with private choice schools and charter schools demonstrates that alternative models can deliver superior academic outcomes, close achievement gaps, and do so more efficiently for taxpayers.
As the nation grapples with the best path forward for education, Wisconsin’s success offers a compelling blueprint: public education can thrive not by clinging to the status quo, but by reimagining how we deliver opportunity to every student.
