School vouchers represent a radical way of funding public education.
Rather than giving money directly to schools, the state would give each school-age student an educational voucher that would be accepted at any private or public school. In Wisconsin, a district court in 1997 struck down the provisions of the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program that issued vouchers to parents for paying their children's tuition at religious schools. A state Court of Appeals agreed with that decision, citing the Wisconsin Constitution's prohibition on taxpayer funding of religious instruction. Last June, Wisconsin's Supreme Court reversed the lower court, in a decision that strikes at the heart of the First Amendment, distorts the language of the state constitution, and ignores all prior court rulings on public funding of religion. The June decision is being appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.