100% Voucher Schools Lack Accountability, ProPublica Finds

They're almost invisible. Voucher schools enrolling only voucher-funded students operate with virtually no oversight, even as they collect tens of millions in taxpayer dollars each year, and a new investigation into these so-called “100% schools” reveals a staggering scale of unmonitored public money. So consider Wisconsin alone: 39 such private schools educated 7,923 children this past school year. That's roughly $87 million in state voucher payments. And not a single one of them faces the scrutiny you'd expect for that kind of cash.

The term emerged during reporting on how public money flows into private education. It's a simple setup, really. These are schools where tax dollars cover all or a substantial portion of tuition for every single student, and that's where the problem starts. But they operate like public schools in funding, without the same transparency rules, open records laws, or governance standards that apply to traditional public districts. So you can't see where the money goes. That's the catch.

One School’s Financial Web

Atlas Preparatory Academy in Milwaukee offers a case study in what can go wrong. The school received more than $4.3 million in voucher money for 357 students in grades K-12 last year. Its test scores are low and enrollment is declining. Yet its board chair, Steven E. Menden, earned more than $150,000 in 2024 while also serving as a school administrator.

That dual role would be illegal at a public school in Wisconsin. The state’s “incompatible roles” doctrine prohibits school board members from also holding district management jobs. “In essence, one cannot supervise oneself, which would include hiring and firing and disciplining oneself,” said Dan Rossmiller, executive director of the Wisconsin Association of School Boards.

Menden’s accounting firm also received tens of thousands of dollars from the school. The fiscal year 2025 IRS form showed Menden working a 40-hour week for Atlas and earning $132,505 in pay plus $19,916 in benefits. His firm, Menden & Associates, held an $87,250 contract. His daughter, Kaitlyn Menden, earned $127,674 in salary and benefits for a “business services” role, which she described as wearing “many hats” including human resources and technology oversight.

No Rules for Private Operators

Wisconsin law prohibits public school board members from having a private interest in any contract over $15,000 that they participate in bidding on or voting for. Violators face potential felony charges. No similar law applies to private school operators.

Menden defended the arrangement in an email. He says any conflicts of interest are “resolved in favor of Atlas Preparatory Academy as outlined in our IRS mandated Conflict of Interest Policy.” That’s the rule. But he added that conflicted persons recuse themselves from voting, and final decisions are made in the school’s best financial interest, so the process doesn’t just leave the door open for favoritism. It’s a strict line.

Experts say that structure fails basic nonprofit governance standards.

“Board members are volunteers, and best practice is unambiguous that they should not simultaneously hold paid staff positions at the school they oversee , doing so collapses the separation between governance and management that gives a board its purpose in the first place,” said Chelsea Cross, a vice president at City Forward Collective in Milwaukee.

Atlas’s IRS filing shows executive director Michelle Lukacs earned $175,000 in salary and benefits while also holding a board position. She sits on both sides. But that’s not all, a third board member works one hour per week for no pay, and Cross noted that two-thirds of the governing board is on the payroll, which means the people meant to oversee the school are also the people being paid by it. So the oversight is broken. “Atlas Prep’s board cannot meaningfully hold its own leadership accountable,” she said, and that’s a problem they can’t ignore.

Public Records? Not Here

Public schools in Wisconsin must comply with open records laws. District websites publish agendas, minutes, budgets, contracts, and improvement plans. Bay View High School, a public school near Atlas that also earned a one-star rating on the state report card, posts its improvement strategy, discipline methods, and school council meeting information online.

Atlas’s website has a tab labeled “Build Your Own Curriculum.” Clicking it loads nothing.

Reporters asked for Atlas's conflict of interest policy and its contract with Menden's accounting firm. Neither was provided as of mid-August. But a public school would be legally required to hand over those documents, so the silence here isn't just a courtesy, it's a choice that raises questions about what they're hiding.

Lukacs rejected the criticism of the board structure. “This is a false statement,” she wrote in an email, saying board members “model strong personal leadership showing integrity, confidence and consistency in their actions and decision making.” She said she does not vote to approve her own salary and noted the school’s commitment to improving curriculum and student support.

“While our standardized test scores do not yet reflect the level of achievement we aspire to, our staff has remained steadfast in its commitment to continuous improvement,” she wrote.

Accountability That Never Arrived

A decade ago, Wisconsin's Department of Public Instruction posed a question that still haunts the education world, a question nobody has managed to answer: “When is a private school really a public school?” The paper floated a hard idea. Low-performing choice schools, it suggested, might need financial sanctions, turnaround efforts, or even closure. That's a stark threat. But the query remains open, and we've never resolved what public accountability truly means for privately run classrooms.

That was 2011. Those accountability measures still do not exist.

Voucher schools don't have to serve all children with disabilities. Public schools do. That's a fundamental difference. Meanwhile, many states don't require private schools to administer standardized tests or report scores at all, which leaves parents and taxpayers with almost no way to gauge how these institutions are actually performing. Wisconsin does require testing for voucher students, though. But parents can opt out. So the data isn't always there.

Atlas Prep has earned the lowest rating on Wisconsin’s school report card: “fails to meet expectations,” or one star out of five. The school has continued receiving millions in voucher funding regardless.

Visits and Deflections

Reporters visited four of the 100% schools in Wisconsin. At one Milwaukee school, an audit showed the woman running the school was paying her own company $128,000 in rent for the building in a recent year. When approached in the lobby, she said via a phone: “I’m not interested, ma’am. Please do not call us back again.”

At Atlas’s high school building, Lukacs was reportedly headed to a meeting and could not speak.

The money flow raises basic questions about what taxpayers are buying. These schools are heavily dependent on public dollars to maintain operations, even if they also take in fundraising or investment income, so the public's stake is real and ongoing. But they face none of the checks that apply to public schools receiving the same public funds. That's the rub.

At a public school, contracts for nurses, mental health services, printers, portable toilets, busing, and professional development are all available online through Milwaukee Public Schools. Atlas posts none of that. It doesn’t have to.

The gap isn't closing. It's widening, even as more private schools become almost entirely taxpayer-funded, and that trajectory shows no sign of reversing anytime soon. But the question from that 2011 research paper remains unanswered, and the children inside these schools keep waiting, their futures suspended in a bureaucratic limbo that nobody seems willing to resolve. Voucher schools continue to grow. The standards that protect students and public money have not kept pace, and that's a failure we can't ignore any longer.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are '100% voucher schools' according to the article?

These are private schools where tax dollars cover all or a substantial portion of tuition for every single student. They operate like public schools in funding but without the same transparency rules, open records laws, or governance standards that apply to traditional public districts.

Why does the article say Atlas Preparatory Academy's board structure fails basic nonprofit governance standards?

The article notes that two-thirds of Atlas's governing board is on the payroll, including the board chair who also serves as a school administrator, and the executive director who holds a board position. Expert Chelsea Cross says this collapses the separation between governance and management, making it impossible for the board to meaningfully hold its own leadership accountable.

How are public schools in Wisconsin different from voucher schools regarding records and transparency?

Public schools must comply with open records laws, posting agendas, minutes, budgets, contracts, and improvement plans online. In contrast, voucher schools like Atlas are not required to provide such documents; when reporters asked for Atlas's conflict of interest policy and contract, they were not provided, whereas a public school would be legally required to hand them over.

When did the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction raise the question about private schools becoming public schools, and what has happened since?

In 2011, the department posed the question, 'When is a private school really a public school?' and suggested that low-performing choice schools might need financial sanctions, turnaround efforts, or even closure. However, as of the article, those accountability measures still do not exist, and the question remains unanswered.

Who is Steven E. Menden and what dual role does he hold at Atlas Preparatory Academy?

Steven E. Menden is the board chair of Atlas Preparatory Academy. He also serves as a school administrator, earning over $150,000 in 2024, which would be illegal at a public school in Wisconsin due to the state's 'incompatible roles' doctrine that prohibits board members from also holding district management jobs.