An April 9 letter from the U.S. Department of Justice’s civil rights division released to the public Thursday recommended the state’s lead education organization focus more attention on regulating the treatment of students with disabilities who apply for admission to state voucher schools.
The letter outlined the DOJ’s findings that the state’s Department of Public Instruction allowed voucher schools, specifically in Milwaukee, to discriminate against students with disabilities, a practice that violates federal statutes mandating equal treatment.
According to the letter, Milwaukee voucher schools have deterred some students with disabilities from applying or denied them admission because of their disabilities. Another issue the letter addressed was the voucher schools’ inability to supply students with disabilities the services they need to succeed in school, which is something that statutes also mandate.
However, the letter did recognize that the DPI had been open to talks in the past and urged the organization to reconsider its oversight of voucher schools in the future.
Patrick Gasper, DPI’s communications officer, said in a statement the organization is still reviewing the letter with an intent to address the issues. The organization also plans to determine the exact authority it has over regulating the issues expressed by the federal DOJ.
Voucher schools have been debated in the state after Gov. Scott Walker proposed expanding the voucher system to nine additional state school districts in his recent biennial budget.
The voucher expansion has received general support from most state Republicans, but state Democrats and a handful of state Republicans have criticized Walker’s proposal.
