The ACLU and Disability Rights Wisconsin have filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, alleging that voucher schools discriminate against children with disabilities. Named in the complaint are the Wisconsin Department of Instruction and two voucher programs: Messmer and Concordia University Schools.
Wisconsin’s State School Superintendent, Tony Evers, will cooperate with any investigation, which is clearly an understatement since Evers has called the voucher expansion “immoral.” Look for DPI to drag out every conceivable document they can find to support the complaint.
While Wisconsin’s ACLU is involved, much of the heavy lifting comes from the national ACLU. The Obama administration is alarmed by the possible voucher programs in the works around the country pushed by Republican governors and supported by like-minded legislatures.
An inside source tells me that the Obama administration is not just passively watching this Wisconsin complaint unfold. The U.S. Department of Education and Arne Duncan are up to their elbows in supporting the ACLU and DRW complaint. What better way to embarrass Wisconsin’s Governor Walker than to have a court injunction stating that this state discriminates against children with disabilities.
All signs point to a possible court injunction by the Justice Department no later than this September. Remember that any action will be in federal court and Wisconsin’s Supreme Court will play no part in the final outcome.
Normally one would expect that the voucher proponents would have made sure that, at least, the paperwork showed no discrimination and that the ACLU and DRW would have to show that discrimination took place in practice. But even the paperwork and websites of the schools show an attempt to discourage parents with disabled children from applying to their schools – a clear violation of federal law.
Add to that nearly of 20% MPS students have disabilities while voucher schools come in with less than 3%. Supporters of the voucher program respond that MPS has an incentive to label students disabled in order to receive addition federal dollars. Voucher schools have no such incentives. But even these supporters admit that the percentage of disabled students in MPS is at least twice the rate of their voucher schools.
Voucher schools fall into two camps. Some schools clearly are happy with the rules that help to keep children with disabilities out of their schools. Many of their parents have chosen those schools to get away from other people’s children especially those with emotional problems which tend to disrupt the school environment.
But some other voucher schools would welcome the chance to educate children with disabilities if only they were given the money by the state to educate these children. So while Messmer and Concordia are plaintiffs in the case, the real target is the State of Wisconsin.
The state could fix the problem itself. It could do even more damage to MPS by taking additional money from public schools and giving it to voucher schools to educate these children. But fixing the problem would be seen as an admission that the voucher program is flawed in the first place. Instead Republicans will probably dig in for a fight. They will do this at their peril, for if Justice Department prevails, it will be the federal government or courts, not Wisconsin, which decides how to fix this discrimination problem, and the voucher program could take a major hit.
