This week, thousands of students, teachers, and schools across the country are celebrating National School Choice Week and the freedom that expanded educational options provide.
While we celebrate our long history of educational freedom, we must also remain more vigilant than ever in protecting these hard-fought freedoms. Wisconsin was once the foremost leader in the education freedom movement. The nation’s first school choice program was first established nearly 40 years ago in Milwaukee.
Since the success of this first-of-its-kind opportunity, Wisconsin expanded school choice to include students statewide, increased the number of public charter schools, developed protections for home schoolers and created a robust public school open enrollment program.
Tens of thousands of students and families have found a better future through education freedom in Wisconsin. But it is not just Wisconsinites who have benefited. After the success of our choice programs, 30 states now have school choice programs thanks to the Badger State’s leadership. Without Wisconsin paving the way, it is safe to say that far too many students across the country would have been trapped in schools that failed to meet their educational needs.
Unfortunately, Wisconsin has not only fallen from being the nation’s school choice leader, but more threats are mounting against these programs by the day. As 2026 begins, opponents to our demonstrably successful school choice program seem more determined than ever to rip it down.
A 2023 lawsuit was filed to terminate the school choice program. While ultimately unsuccessful, it serves as a harbinger of what may be coming next. Every legislative session, Democrats file bills to end choice schools. This session is no different, with bills that would cap the number of students participating in the private school choice programs and add unnecessary, burdensome regulations.
This month alone, we’ve heard from two state lawmakers s that they would fight to take away school choice opportunities for students and their families, following the previous pattern of Democrat-filed legislation in Madison. What these politicians and activists on the left fail to mention is that their so-called “pro- student” policies would effectively force over 60,000 Wisconsin students out of their current schools, and that’s only the traditional private school choice students.
If these misguided efforts expanded to include charter, open enrollment and home school, it could be well over 100,000 students whose freedom is stripped away. Not only are these students achieving higher scores in reading and math, but a student is at their best when parents have the freedom to decide what is in the best interest of their child.
This National School Choice Week we need to take the time to celebrate the thousands of students, teachers and schools who make education freedom possible. But we also need to reflect on how much it could change if we aren’t vigilant.
I urge everyone who cares about a better future for Wisconsin and for our students to take time this week to contact their elected officials and tell them how important preserving education freedom is to you, your family, and to our state. The next generation of kids are depending on us to fight for a better future for them.
Written by: Megan Novak, State Director, AFP-Wisconsin
Last Update: Jan 26, 2026 10:06 am CST
