Walker Wants To Hold Charters, Vouchers To Same Standards As Public Schools

Gov. Scott Walker says he favors requiring charter and voucher schools to be graded the same way that traditional public schools are.

The comment comes in response to a bill authored by state Sen. Luther Olsen, R-Ripon, and state Rep. Steve Kestell, R-Elkhart Lake, that would require public, charter and voucher schools to be held to the same academic standards.

Walker faced criticism last year when a grading proposal he introduced didn’t require voucher schools to participate. Despite that, Walker says all schools getting public money should be held to the same standard.

“My goal ultimately is any school in Wisconsin that gets public funds … should be held to those high accountability measures and be included in those report cards,” says Walker.

Walker says Olsen and Kestell have been working on their bill separately, but that a lot of the provisions are similar to what he’d like to see passed into law.