(The Lion) — Electing a state Supreme Court justice isn’t the only high stakes issue on Wisconsin’s Tuesday ballot.

While the court race may influence national issues such as the fight for voter ID, there’s another battle brewing that could impact the future of school choice in the Badger State.

State Education Superintendent Jill Underly, who is running for reelection on Tuesday’s ballot, says she wants to eliminate school choice and give the money to public schools.

“So, school choice actually sounds like a pretty nice thing, doesn’t it?” Underly said at a school event in mid-March, PBS Wisconsin reported. “Like, who shouldn’t have a choice, right? But really, what it is in Wisconsin is, it’s privatization of public schools.”

The Democrat, who was first elected in 2021, was then asked if she wanted to cut school choice completely.

“Ultimately, yes, I would like to see it eliminated,” she responded. “We are spending so much money on it that it’s taking money from our public schools.”

Brittany Kinser, Underly’s opponent, supports school choice.

“I am the only school choice candidate,” said Kinser, who is unaffiliated but is endorsed by the Republican Party. “We’re talking about children who are living below a certain income – families – and they’re receiving a scholarship to attend a private school. … I believe that parents should have that option.”

Wisconsin was a pioneer in school choice, passing the nation’s first comprehensive program for low-income students in Milwaukee Public Schools in 1989. Since then, the state has added several programs that serve about 90,000 total students, allowing those families to choose the best educational opportunity for their children.

Underly says choice programs cost the state too much money, but the numbers say otherwise.

“Wisconsin’s school choice programs are all significantly cheaper for taxpayers than public schools in the state,” Will Flanders, research director at Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty, told Fox News Digital. “Choice schools only receive about 75% of the funding per student that public schools do. Dr. Underly is either lying or misinformed.”

During her first run for superintendent, it was revealed that Underly sent her own children to private school from 2013-2015 before enrolling them in a public school after she became head of a local district.

Kinser told Fox News she “can’t fathom why anyone would want to take that opportunity away.”

“Jill Underly fails to realize that not all families can afford the same private school options she could for her children,” she said. “Tens of thousands of students across Wisconsin currently rely on the school choice scholarship to attend a school that meets their needs.”

Underly has also faced criticism for allegedly lowering the state’s standards to make more students appear proficient in reading and math, charges she vehemently denies. Still, the allegations were enough for Republican state lawmakers to introduce legislation this year banning the practice.

The superintendent has also spoken in favor of focusing on race, class and gender in schools and allowing “trans” athletes to compete according to their “gender identity,” even calling attempts to limit sports based on biological sex “hate” and “a dangerous lie.”

School choice evangelist Corey DeAngelis also disputed Underly’s claims about cost and private school scholarships.

“School choice doesn’t take money from public schools,” DeAngelis told Fox News. “Public schools take money from families. Wisconsin school choice programs just return the money to the hands of the rightful owners.”