Do Green Bay private schools perform better than public schools? Here's what to know

Danielle DuClos, Green Bay Press-Gazette
·4 min read
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GREEN BAY — Every year, public school districts in Wisconsin get a report card from the state Department of Public Instruction. The report card gives schools and districts an overall accountability rating from one to five stars.

A score of three or more stars means a school or district is meeting or exceeding educational expectations.

In the most recent ratings, every public school district in Brown County got three or more stars, but how did private schools do?

What are the state report cards?

Like a performance review, the report cards show how schools are doing in key areas like student performance on state standardized tests, growth of those scores, outcomes for the lowest-performing students and whether students are on track to graduate. Statewide report cards were released Nov. 14 for the 2022-23 school year.

The state Department of Public Instruction, or DPI, gives every school and school district an "accountability score" from 0 to 100. That score then translates to a star rating: One star means a school is failing to meet educational expectations. Five stars means the school or district significantly exceeds them.

Few private schools get report cards in the Green Bay area

Many of the area's private schools participate in the Wisconsin Parental Choice Program. The program allows low-income students to attend private schools for free, using taxpayer funded vouchers.

But despite some schools receiving millions in public funding from the voucher program, the majority of Green Bay private schools don't get report cards or an accountability rating. That's because they likely don't have enough students taking state standardized tests.

Only private schools that get public funding through voucher programs get report cards — and only if they get enough students to take the state Forward Exams.

The report cards reflect only the performance of those students attending through the voucher program.

Of the 21 private schools in the area that get tax-funded voucher payments, less than a fifth of them got report cards. That means there is no way to tell whether these schools are meeting state educational expectations.

Here's how the four schools that got accountability ratings did:

  • Bay City Christian School: 3 stars, meets expectations

  • Green Bay Trinity Lutheran School: 3 stars, meets expectations

  • Northeastern Wisconsin Lutheran High School: 3 stars, meets expectations

  • Notre Dame Academy: 1 star, fails to meet expectations

How much in tax-funded voucher payments do private schools get?

In total, the 21 private schools that get tax-funded voucher payments in Brown County received about $12.5 million for the 2022-23 school year, according to data from the DPI. Schools get more money depending on how many students are attending on a voucher since voucher funding is allocated on a per student basis.

This year, the amount that private schools get per student increased under the new biennium budget.

The amount of tax dollars private schools get per student went from:

  • $4,200 to $4,900 per student in 4-year-old kindergarten;

  • $8,400 to $9,900 per student in grades kindergarten through eighth grade;

  • $9,000 to $12,400 per student in grades nine through 12.

Those 21 private schools are estimated to get $15.9 million this school year in voucher payments, according to DPI data.

The schools that will get the most for the 2023-24 year are:

  • Green Bay Area Catholic Education (GRACE): $6.6 million

  • Notre Dame Academy: $3 million

  • Bay City Christian School: $2.2 million

Across the state, the DPI estimates the Wisconsin Parental Choice Program will cost taxpayers $195 million this year.

How many students attend private schools on publicly funded vouchers?

The number of students who can receive vouchers is capped at 8% of a student's home district enrollment. Every year, the enrollment cap increases by 1% until the 2026-27 school year when the cap will be lifted.

For the 2022-23 school year, when the enrollment cap was set at 7%, about 1,439 students in Brown County went to a private school on a voucher. This year, it's 1,542, according to the DPI.

Green Bay Area Catholic Education (GRACE), which has nine schools, has the largest number of students attending on a voucher at 681. Notre Dame Academy is second with 240 students. The smallest is the All Saints Grade School in Denmark, which has eight voucher students.

Danielle DuClos is a Report for America corps member who covers K-12 education for the Green Bay Press-Gazette. Contact her at dduclos@gannett.com. Follow on Twitter @danielle_duclos. You can directly support her work with a tax-deductible donation at GreenBayPressGazette.com/RFA or by check made out to The GroundTruth Project with subject line Report for America Green Bay Press Gazette Campaign. Address: The GroundTruth Project, Lockbox Services, 9450 SW Gemini Drive, PMB 46837, Beaverton, Oregon 97008-7105

This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Do Green Bay private schools perform better than public schools?