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Tuesday, September 14, 2004
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Sunday, September 12, 2004
People For the American Way - Milwaukee, WI Voucher Program
People For the American Way - Milwaukee, WI Voucher Program
The Wisconsin law governing the Milwaukee voucher program requires participating schools to select voucher students randomly to guard against discrimination based on race, geography, academic status, religion, and other factors. However, an analysis by PFAWF and the Milwaukee Branch of the NAACP of voucher schools’ written random selection plans for the 1998-99 school year revealed that one third of the participating schools were not complying with the law. Instead, a number of the schools had “random selection” plans that granted illegal preferences to students based on religious, academic, and other grounds. For example, the Saint Alexander School’s plan stated: “New students to Saint Alexander’s will be accepted in the following order: Siblings, Catholic Students from Saint Alexander’s Parish, Catholic Students from other parishes, and then non-Catholic students” [emphasis added].12 The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI) ordered all schools to delete such provisions from their random selection plans.13 In fact, DPI adopted a new rule requiring that a private school’s random selection plan must be approved by the agency before the school may participate in the voucher program.14
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The Wisconsin law governing the Milwaukee voucher program requires participating schools to select voucher students randomly to guard against discrimination based on race, geography, academic status, religion, and other factors. However, an analysis by PFAWF and the Milwaukee Branch of the NAACP of voucher schools’ written random selection plans for the 1998-99 school year revealed that one third of the participating schools were not complying with the law. Instead, a number of the schools had “random selection” plans that granted illegal preferences to students based on religious, academic, and other grounds. For example, the Saint Alexander School’s plan stated: “New students to Saint Alexander’s will be accepted in the following order: Siblings, Catholic Students from Saint Alexander’s Parish, Catholic Students from other parishes, and then non-Catholic students” [emphasis added].12 The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI) ordered all schools to delete such provisions from their random selection plans.13 In fact, DPI adopted a new rule requiring that a private school’s random selection plan must be approved by the agency before the school may participate in the voucher program.14
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