## Facts

- Wisconsin created the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program (MPCP) in 1990 to provide publicly funded vouchers for eligible low-income Milwaukee students to attend participating private schools; initially, only nonsectarian schools could participate.
- In 1995, Wisconsin amended MPCP to permit sectarian (religious) private schools to participate, increased participation limits, and included protections that voucher students could not be compelled to take part in religious activities.
- Parents applied to participating private schools and, if accepted, the state paid the voucher amount directly to the school on the student’s behalf; the state and school district did not assign students to religious schools.
- Taxpayers, parents, unions, and civic organizations sued, alleging the 1995 expansion violated the Wisconsin Constitution’s religion clauses (art. I, § 18) and the public-school uniformity clause (art. X, § 3), and also violated the federal Establishment Clause.
- The trial court and court of appeals held the inclusion of religious schools unconstitutional and enjoined the program.
- The Wisconsin Supreme Court accepted review; an earlier decision had upheld the original nonsectarian program against a uniformity-clause challenge.

## Issues

1. Whether allowing religious schools to receive voucher payments under MPCP violates Wis. Const. art. I, § 18 by drawing money from the treasury “for the benefit” of religious societies or by compelling taxpayers to “support” worship or ministry without consent.
2. Whether MPCP, as amended, violates Wis. Const. art. X, § 3 by undermining the requirement of a “uniform system of public schools.”
3. Whether the amended MPCP violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.

## Decision

- The Wisconsin Supreme Court reversed the lower courts and upheld the amended MPCP, including participation by religious schools.
- The court held MPCP does not violate the Wisconsin Constitution’s “benefits” clause because the program is religiously neutral and any benefit to religious schools results from independent parental choice.
- The court held MPCP does not violate the Wisconsin Constitution’s compelled-support clause because it does not coerce support for worship or ministry; funding occurs through a general, secular program with funds reaching religious schools only through private decisions.
- The court held MPCP does not violate the uniformity clause because it is an educational assistance program for some students, not the creation of a parallel public-school system.
- The court rejected federal Establishment Clause challenges, finding a secular purpose, no primary effect of advancing religion due to neutrality and private choice, and no excessive entanglement.

## Legal Principles

- Government aid that is neutral as to religion and reaches religious institutions only through genuine and independent private choice may be permissible under state constitutional limits on using public funds for religion.
- A state constitutional compelled-support prohibition is not triggered by general tax revenues funding a broadly available secular program, where any religious benefit is indirect and not the product of coercion or targeted support for worship or ministry.
- A voucher program that provides educational assistance to parents and students does not violate a public-school “uniformity” mandate when it does not create or operate a separate system of public schools.
- For Establishment Clause purposes, a program with a secular purpose, neutral eligibility criteria, and indirect aid flowing through private choice may satisfy constitutional requirements and avoid excessive church–state entanglement.

## Conclusion

The Wisconsin Supreme Court upheld Milwaukee’s expanded voucher program, reasoning that it provided neutral educational assistance to families and that any benefit to religious schools occurred only through parental choice, consistent with Wisconsin’s religion clauses, the public-school uniformity mandate, and the federal Establishment Clause.


Jackson v. Benson, 578 N.W.2d 602 (Wis. 1998)