Excerpt:

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers signed a budget package Tuesday that includes what could be the biggest voucher school expansion since the program started 30 years ago. You would be excused for having flashbacks to the work of former Republican Gov. Scott Walker, who championed school privatization and greatly expanded the state’s voucher program in 2014.

The deal that Evers, a Democrat, supported is a package of bills that were signed along with the state budget and which could increase private school voucher enrollment by 40% statewide. It could effectively be such a strong push toward privatization that it would put the state’s public schools in crisis, pulling students and the funding the goes with them out of already cash strapped public school districts. Evers, meanwhile, previously called the overall package a ​“Win for Wisconsin.” Since the deal was first announced, Republicans proposed more cuts, slashing millions going to childcare programs and jeopardizing public transit. They’re also eyeing cuts to the University of Wisconsin. This is all happening while the state is sitting on a nearly $7 billion budget surplus.

“A bad deal is a bad deal,” says Ingrid Walker-Henry, vice president of the Milwaukee Teachers Education Association (MTEA), the state’s largest teachers union. ​“You can’t shine it up and make it better.”