State Assembly to vote on bill limiting school revenue Thursday

MADISON — The Wisconsin Assembly plans to vote Thursday on legislation enabling public schools to recoup their losses when students leave through the state's voucher program.

The program subsidies private school tuition. To fund it, the state reduces aid to districts that lose students to voucher schools. Those districts can compensate for those losses and more by raising property taxes.

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos has proposed an amendment to another voucher school bill limiting the amount of money districts can raise to offset voucher losses, a move that would cost 142 districts about $14.2 million in 2016-17.

Vos said Tuesday he plans to revise the amendment so districts can recoup only their losses and nothing more. He said the Assembly will vote on the amendment Thursday and send it to the Senate.