WI School Choice Plan Seen Fueling Political Battles

Unions, again

MADISON – Is the Badger State gearing up for another Act-10 like battle?

Gov. Scott Walker's budget proposal seeking to expand Wisconsin's voucher and charter schools could serve as another political lightning rod in the charter school movement, possibly bringing a return to massive Capitol demonstrations, according to a national charter education expert.

"What he (Walker) is doing is attacking people who have a vested interest in the status quo," Harvey Newman, senior fellow at the New York City-based Center for Educational Innovation, told Wisconsin Reporter Tuesday. Newman leads the center's charter support network, an advocate of charter schools in New York and nationally.

"This will create tension in the system. It has and will continue to organize opposition," Newman added.