It's been a crazy week and I'm way behind in blogging.  It's one thing to have legitimate questions about whether a vouchers program is the way to reform public education. It's another thing to be a Republican and believe public education doesn't need wholesale reform. It's hard to read Ellis and Olsen any other way after this revelation.   It'll be interesting to see how many other Repubblicans go along, as they seem to believe will happen:

The plan has the backing of Sen. Luther Olsen (R-Ripon), the chairman of the Senate Education Committee and a member of the budget-writing Joint Finance Committee. They said they expected support from other Republicans who control the Legislature because many have been seeking ways to add school funding to the GOP governor’s budget.

Ellis and Olsen said they would fund their plan by shifting money from elsewhere in Walker’s budget, but they would not provide details. They declined to say if they would use funding from Walker’s plans to expand school vouchers or award public school funding based on performance.

They can decline to say all they want whether the money would come from funding currently committed to vouchers. I'd be shocked if that isn't the case.