A state limit on enrollment in Wisconsin’s statewide private-school voucher program expired this school year, allowing private schools to accept any number of eligible students. In Madison, however, public school officials and private-school leaders expect the change to have little immediate effect because local schools have not come close to reaching the old cap and many are near capacity. The cap had risen gradually from 1% of students living in a school district in 2015-16 to 10% last school year. Families applying through the Wisconsin Parental Choice Program must have incomes below 220% of the federal poverty level — about $71,000 for a family of four. Beginning this school year, no enrollment limit applies to the program. About 580 full-time students who live within Madison Metropolitan School District boundaries attended private schools using state vouchers last school year, according to state figures. The former 10% limit would have allowed about 2,600 students, based on the school-age population in the district. The cap’s expiration “isn’t going to impact us any differently” than in previous years, said Bob Soldner, the district’s assistant superintendent of financial services. He said local voucher enrollment had remained well below the limit and that private-school capacity, rather than the state cap, is the main constraint in Madison. Chuck Moore, executive director of Impact Christian Schools, which supports more than two dozen private Christian schools statewide, including several in Dane County, also said capacity is the bigger obstacle. He said the cap had not been restricting enrollment at Madison-area schools. Lighthouse Christian School, which serves about 300 students in kindergarten through eighth grade, recently expanded its facilities by 7,000 square feet. School leaders hope to add high school grades. About 87% of Lighthouse students received state-funded vouchers last school year, making it the Madison school with the most voucher students, according to the figures cited in the report. The expiration comes amid a broader dispute over the cost and oversight of voucher programs. Wisconsin spent more than $700 million on its four private-school voucher programs last school year, according to state Department of Public Instruction estimates. Private schools receiving voucher funds are not subject to the same academic standards, testing requirements or transparency rules as public schools. Last year, dozens of Democratic lawmakers, including Madison-area legislators, proposed retaining the 10% limit. Rep. Christian Phelps, a Democrat from Eau Claire, said at the time that maintaining the cap would help prevent voucher spending from growing without limits while lawmakers debated the programs’ future. The proposal did not prevent the cap from expiring. The Madison district says voucher payments have a direct effect on its finances. Soldner said the district lost about $6.6 million in state aid last school year because money was redirected to vouchers through the statewide program. State law allows districts to raise local property tax levies to account for lost state aid. Soldner said Madison has historically used that option rather than cutting programs or relying on one-time funds. This summer, the Madison School Board adopted a resolution urging state lawmakers and local officials to make voucher-related costs clearer on property tax bills. The board said taxpayers cannot readily see how education-related taxes are divided between public schools and voucher payments. The future of vouchers is also part of the state’s gubernatorial and legislative campaigns this fall. Democratic gubernatorial nominee David Crowley has said he would not end vouchers but opposes expanding them. Republican nominee Tom Tiffany supports growing the programs. State Superintendent Jill Underly said last week that voucher spending affects the resources available to public schools. When enrollment shifts to voucher programs, she said, the money comes out of public school budgets.