Private schools failing? They see huge declines in attendance, so Republicans want taxpayers to bribe parents with tax credits to leave Public Schools.

It’s simple really; in a free market, consumers speak with their feet, and their money. So when tea party State Sen. Glenn Grothman offers up lousy numbers for private and voucher schools, you've gotta ask why we should care, and why we would want to throw more money at them.

“Private school attendance has fallen from 147,000 in year 2000 to 123,784 last year," Grothman said in a statement on his website. "Also, 23,200 of these students are choice students. If we do not act quickly the situation will continue to get worse for private schools." 

Like that's our problem? And besides, "parents know what’s best," right? They’re not choosing private and voucher schools, for a reason. But Grothman wants to “act quickly” anyway, by offering revenue draining tax credits.   

Mt. Pleasant Patch: Grothman's and Rep. Dean Kaufert, R-Neenah reasoning is that public schools get up to $15,000 per child in taxpayer support but parents who choose private schools don't get any public assistance. Speaker of the Assembly Robin Vos, R-Burlington, told the Associated Press that he's open to the idea of such a tax credit.

And as usual, Republicans have no way of paying for it:

As for how the tax credit would be funded, Grothman told Patch he's not sure.

Reader reactions included the clueless who believe private schools are just better, to the single person (probably a public school graduates) who doesn’t think it’s fair that they have to pay for something they’re not using. But the smart ones made the point so much better than I could:

Bobbi Barrows disagrees because parents who choose to send their kids to private school understand the cost of that choice. "If the school isn't meeting my child's needs and I home school, I don't get a tax credit. We are all paying for schools … even if we don't have kids IN school. Just like we pay for parks. If I don't use the Parks at all and choose to pay to go to monkey Joe's instead should I get credit for that?"

Denise Predny sends her kids to private schools and doesn't expect a tax credit in return. "As a parent who sends their children to private school, I say 'no. I made the choice based on our belief in Montessori education (and) do not expect someone to be compensated for the decision."

Jeff Woosley agrees. "They are choosing to not avail themselves of a service provided by their tax dollars. It's a choice they make," he posted. "They aren't forced by anyone to 'double-pay' on education."

Perhaps lower wages and job insecurity has forced parents out of private schools for financial reasons. Austerity and pure ideology aren't solving our state's problems, and the sooner voters see that, the faster we'll see Republicans voted out of office.