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After a long and frustrating search, Beth Wisniewski felt like she found a haven for her son in Penfield Montessori Academy — a Near West Side Milwaukee charter school that serves children with and without disabilities.

Wisniewski’s son, Henry, was born with Down syndrome. As he approached school age, Wisniewski and her husband toured private schools, traditional public schools and charter schools — those that are publicly funded but independently operated. But no matter the school model, the Milwaukee couple walked away with the same message: Henry was not wanted. 

“Every place we went we had to explain that our son was worthy, as if we had to sell the school on our son,” Wisniewski said. “You feel less than, like there was no place that welcomed him the way he is.” 

The family finally found Penfield, which centered its vision for the school on students with disabilities. Penfield Children’s Center — a taxpayer-funded nonprofit that serves young children and infants with developmental delays and other disabilities — opened the school in 2016 for children who aged out of the center. 

“(At Penfield) we’ve never had to apologize for where my child is at, developmentally. He’s truly welcomed by everyone,” Wisniewski said, pointing to the school’s teachers, therapists and specialists to support students with special needs.

But that support may vanish. Penfield’s board in April abruptly announced the school would shutter at the end of the year, citing long-term financial pressures and surprise building repair bills. 

Absent a long-shot plan to save Penfield, the closure means families must find a new school next year — whether returning to their home district public school or trying to navigate a state school choice system that offers few options for students with disabilities. 

Public schools must serve all students living within their boundaries, including those needing special accommodations. But not all neighborhood schools are equally staffed or resourced to meet the needs of students with disabilities.   

In theory, Wisconsin families have a variety of options. But those options often exclude students with disabilities. 

Student art hangs on the wall of Penfield Montessori Academy, a Milwaukee-based charter school that serves children with and without disabilities. School officials announced plans to close at the end of the 2022-2023 school year, but parents are hoping to save the school. Photo taken on April 19, 2023. (Jonmaesha Beltran/ Wisconsin Watch)

Such students could apply to attend a private school with the help of a taxpayer-subsidized voucher, a program that enrolls 52,000 students across Wisconsin. But such private schools also are allowed to expel a student with disabilities if officials determine they cannot meet that child’s needs.

Charter schools elsewhere have been accused of denying entrance to students with disabilities — either because they cost too much to accommodate or because their test scores could lower the school’s average. The practice is commonly known as “cherry picking” students. 

Less talked about, however, is how the state’s biggest choice program, open enrollment, excludes students with disabilities. Roughly 70,000 Wisconsin students attend public schools outside their home districts through the 25-year-old open enrollment program. It allows students to apply to better-resourced public schools outside of district boundaries. But those schools can limit or deny slots for out-of-district students with disabilities.

Wisconsin districts in 2021-22 received 41,554 open enrollment applications, about 14% of which represented students with disabilities, Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction data show. Schools rejected about 40% of applications in that category, with lack of special education space as the most common reason for the denials. By comparison, school districts rejected only 14% of applications from students without disabilities. 

Last year, for example, one suburban Madison district announced 115 slots for incoming open enrollment students — but none for children with disabilities.

The denials tie students to their home district school, underscoring how a child’s ZIP code shapes opportunities. The effect is compounded for students with disabilities.

Problem’s root: Special education funding gap

Joanne Juhnke, an advocacy specialist for Disability Rights Wisconsin, said the fundamental problem is the gap between the cost of special education services and how much the state reimburses school districts. Despite years of lobbying from disability rights advocates, Wisconsin reimburses school districts only 30% of special education costs — one of the lowest rates in the nation. 

The New Jersey-based Educational Law Center, a nonprofit that advocates for equal educational opportunity and education justice, produced this map to accompany its October 2022 report titled: “Wisconsin’s special education funding crunch: How state underfunding disproportionately harms students in high-poverty districts.” 

Over the past five decades, state funding support for special education has declined precipitously. That forces districts — which must abide by revenue caps set by the state — to take money from the regular education budget to pay for services for students with disabilities.

“Wisconsin is currently at something of a crisis point,” Juhnke said. “The funding problem is something we have not managed to move the needle on very far.”

Abigail Swetz, communications director for the state’s Department of Public Instruction, said Wisconsin’s “abysmal” funding for special education could indeed impact open enrollment decisions. 

“It is my fervent hope that open enrollment decisions would not hinge on the status of a student’s (plan for additional accommodations), and yet I would be shocked if budgetary concerns did not impact open enrollment decisions. Districts need to pay their bills,” said Swetz. 

Some experts say the state could make the system more inclusive by following Minnesota, which prohibits school districts from rejecting students with disabilities due to resource constraints. 

“This policy in Wisconsin may not be illegal, but it’s absolutely inequitable,” said Jennifer Coco, senior director of strategy and impact at the Center for Learner Equity, a national nonprofit headquartered in New York.

“If we pride ourselves on advancing equity for kids in the state of Wisconsin, this isn’t it — for a multitude of reasons. It’s discrimination with a lowercase d.”

Schools limit admissions for students with disabilities

Milwaukee Public Schools saw about 3,400 more students transfer out than in last year, more than any other district, as many families headed to nearby suburban schools. The movement flows in both directions, and open enrollment helps some districts make up for shrinking in-district enrollment by attracting outside students and their attendance dollars.

The open enrollment process begins each January, when school boards determine how many outside students they’ll accommodate the following year. Seats are specifically reserved for students who have disabilities and those who don’t. 

Families can apply to attend out-of-district schools between early February and April. Parents learn of the decision by early June.  

While the process allows districts to avoid overcrowding classrooms by capping the number of incoming students, it can also shut doors to students who have disabilities, with districts citing a lack of space to serve them.

Verona schools made no space for students with disabilities

In 2022, Verona Area School District, southwest of Madison, announced it would welcome 115 open enrollment students, the most in a decade. But the district reserved zero spots for students with disabilities, citing a gap between the cost of special education services and state reimbursements. 

“This is nothing but discrimination against students with special needs and students with disabilities,” longtime disability rights attorney Jeff Spitzer-Resnick told Isthmus at the time. 

Spitzer-Resnick’s chief concern, he later told Wisconsin Watch: that the district claimed to lack space for students with disabilities before analyzing applicants’ individual learning needs.

While some children have medically sensitive disabilities that are expensive or complicated to accommodate, most students with disabilities are taught in regular classrooms alongside their peers, said Spitzer-Resnick. And many of their needed accommodations cost little to implement. 

“If a student needs extra time on a test because they have ADHD, that’s literally a zero cost item,” he said. 

School districts aren’t required to offer evidence of a lack of space for students with disabilities unless a parent appeals a denial. In most cases, parents never see the analysis behind a school district’s decision. 

State data do not capture the untold number of parents who abandon the application process, assuming their child will be rejected due to a disability. 

“We saw they weren’t offering seats for students with disabilities, so we didn’t even bother submitting an application,” Wisniewski said of one school district the family considered before finding Penfield. 

Habitually truant, disciplined students face rejection

Disabilities aren’t the only reason students are rejected from open enrollment. A smaller number of students were rejected because they were considered habitually truant or faced previous expulsions — categories that can disproportionately exclude students from low-income families, who are more likely to struggle with transportation; or students of color who are overrepresented in discipline data. 

Black students with disabilities in Wisconsin, for instance, are roughly 6.7 times more likely than white students to be removed from the classroom for disciplinary reasons, according to a state analysis.

Author Tim DeRoche details in his book A Fine Line how school attendance boundaries often correlate to families’ income and race, a pattern he calls educational redlining. He says Wisconsin’s open enrollment law has a “loophole” that allows a public school to categorically deny open enrollment to a child who has a disability, no matter how minimal the services that child requires.

“This means that kids with disabilities are really at the mercy of one district, and that district may or may not have the ability — or desire— to meet the child’s needs,” DeRoche said. 

“It’s not right for a child to be denied enrollment at a public school because of where his or her family lives,” he added. “Our system of district boundaries and attendance zones means that the best or most coveted public schools are often only available to families that can afford a home in the most expensive part of town.”  

Courts uphold open enrollment rejections 

Wisconsin’s open enrollment system has already survived scrutiny in federal courts. 

The Wisconsin Institute of Law and Liberty (WILL), a conservative law group, in 2014 launched a lawsuit against the state and five southeast Wisconsin school districts on behalf of several students with disabilities who faced open enrollment rejections, citing lack of space. One Racine family was rejected by school districts 12 times over five years based on their child’s disability, according to court documents. 

WILL took the case after hearing from numerous families that the state’s open enrollment system left children stranded in schools that didn’t work for them, Libby Sobic, an attorney for the families, told Wisconsin Watch.  

The state, WILL argued, essentially created a two-tiered system allowing school districts to reject students based on their disabilities. 

But siding with the state, U.S. District Judge William Conley ruled the system did not illegally discriminate because districts may allocate space based on a “nuanced analysis” of available resources. While school districts must serve all students living within their boundaries, federal law does not require districts to expand or “fundamentally alter” its program to accommodate students who live outside their boundaries, Conley ruled in 2017.

Sobic rejects the judge’s rationale, pointing out that school boards allocate space before knowing how many students are applying or their particular needs. 

“How can you do a nuanced analysis after you’ve already determined in January that you have no seats when students have disabilities?” Sobic said. “I don’t think in practice that ‘nuanced determination’ happens. I’ve sat through school board meetings where they’ve set these numbers, and it’s very rarely a discussion.”

But the 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed Conley’s ruling in 2019, writing that “differential treatment of special-needs students doesn’t make the program unlawful.” 

Minnesota transfer system seen as more inclusive

Still, the Legislature could change the open enrollment process, Sobic said, pointing to Minnesota as a model for a more inclusive open enrollment system. Unlike Wisconsin, Minnesota prohibits school districts from considering a student’s disability when weighing a transfer.

A 2021 WILL report calls for a year-round open enrollment application window and increased transparency in decision making. While it’s difficult to measure the specific impact on Wisconsin school districts due to data limitations, research shows that open enrollment tends to increase racial and economic integration, the report said. 

Juhnke, the disability rights advocate, said Wisconsin must revamp the way it funds special education more broadly. Gov. Tony Evers wants to increase state special education reimbursement from about 30% to 60% of a district’s costs. But Republican leaders in the Legislature have questioned the size of that increase and called to expand the state’s private school voucher program.

Voucher-subsidized private schools that accept students with disabilities can currently receive up to 90% of special education costs through a special reimbursement program. 

“Any solution or improvement to the open enrollment program has to reckon with the overall state funding challenges for education for students with disabilities,” Juhnke said. “For real equity, we ought to be reimbursing school districts statewide up to 90%.”

Swetz, the DPI spokesperson, said the agency hopes the proposed funding increase will land in the final budget, considering the proposal’s historic bipartisan support. In 2019, the bipartisan Blue Ribbon Commission on School Funding established under then-Gov. Scott Walker recommended increasing special education reimbursement to 60%. 

“This is an incredible opportunity for our Legislature to make a huge difference in the lives of every kid in Wisconsin,” said Swetz. 

Sen. Howard Marklein, R-Spring Green, co-chair of the Republican-led budget-writing Joint Finance Committee, declined to comment. 

Penfield Montessori Academy parents fight for their school  

Back at Penfield, parent Amy Scales said news of the school’s closing unleashed chaos at her home, where her overwhelmed children cried and threw toys. Penfield students volunteered to sell prized possessions to keep the school afloat, Scales said. 

“It’s heartbreaking,” said Amy’s husband, Martice. “As a parent it makes you feel like you’ve failed them,” he said. 

Losing the school would drastically alter the daily routine of Nicole Kirk, whose daughter attends Penfield and lives close enough to walk. Penfield was also a sanctuary for Kirk’s niece, who 10 years ago suffered burns to 75% of her body in a house fire. 

“She had to relearn everything after the fire, but she’s doing fantastic now,” Kirk said, crediting the speech, occupational and physical therapists who worked with her at Penfield. 

Parents are still fighting to save their school.

As the April meeting unfolded at the school, leaders from Adeline Montessori, a similar charter school in Oconomowoc, announced they were exploring a plan to fold Penfield into their school, operating it as a satellite campus. 

Parents have since launched a plan to raise money for the effort. They hope to quickly gather $1 million to move forward this summer, Scales said. But the outcome is far from certain. They also need to find a building and retain enough students and staff for the plan to be viable. Penfield Principal Michelle Ravin declined to comment on the progress.

Meantime, parents know they must confront the possibility of losing Penfield.

Milwaukee Public Schools officials are offering to help families search for a new school within the district. But some families don’t see that as a viable option. 

“My experience with neighborhood schools is that if you’re struggling, too bad, it’s your fault,” said Penfield parent Cassie Johnson. “Penfield is amazing, it’s a collaborative environment, instead of shaming kids.” 

Johnson, like her children, is autistic and has attention deficit disorder. A traditional “public school is not an option for us,” she said.

“If the new school doesn’t happen for us, we’ll likely homeschool, at least for the next year,” Johnson said. She worries less for her own family, and more for the students who need  higher levels of support, many of them Black and brown, who would have to find new schools. 

“People should be able to make choices that are best for their kids — not made to leave schools or to homeschool instead or be forced into situations that don’t work,” she said. “That only traumatizes kids.”

The nonprofit Wisconsin Watch (www.WisconsinWatch.org) collaborates with WPR, PBS Wisconsin, other news media and the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Journalism and Mass Communication. All works created, published, posted or disseminated by Wisconsin Watch do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of UW-Madison or any of its affiliates.

Wisconsin students with disabilities often denied public school choices is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom. Subscribe to our newsletters for original stories and our Friday news roundup.

Nat Werth surveyed the “gender identity and theory” section of the handbook for his alma mater, Sheboygan Lutheran High School, with shock and sadness. 

“This was not in the school’s handbook when I attended,” the 2019 graduate and valedictorian said. “Wow, this is gonna make me cry. I cannot believe that this happened.” 

The school’s current handbook dedicates over 1,000 words to a policy that uses biblical teachings as the basis for its anti-transgender policies. 

Werth recalled that the handbook from his time as a student had, at most, a line about gender identity. But parts of the new anti-LGBTQ+ policies felt familiar. 

As Werth was preparing to graduate, he drafted a valedictory speech in which he planned to come out as gay and critique homophobic biblical interpretations as archaic, mistranslated or misconstrued. Administrators canceled his remarks.

Sheboygan Lutheran is a private school that receives public funding through tuition vouchers, which currently subsidize nearly 40% of its students. Administrators ignored repeated requests by phone and email for an interview. When a reporter recently again asked Executive Director Paul Gnan for a comment in person, Gnan smiled and said: “Absolutely not.” 

Across Wisconsin, four voucher programs serve about 52,000 voucher students, which comprises 6% of students at public schools; 95% of the participating schools are religious. 

Diploma in hand, Werth began researching Wisconsin’s voucher programs. He learned that private schools receiving public funds can legally discriminate against LGBTQ+ students, and that the state Department of Public Instruction is largely powerless to stop it. And he went to the press. 

“I didn’t want stuff like that to happen again,” he said. “For people to feel backed into a corner and powerless in a situation, where, like, that just shouldn’t be the case.” 

Werth’s story went viral. He got to meet Jennifer Lopez and speak with Sen. Tammy Baldwin. And when he spoke about his experience, Werth urged Wisconsinites to demand their representatives change the law. 

“It’s not that I’m against school choice,” Werth said. “It’s that everybody has human rights and that they should all be protected no matter what, especially the rights of kids who go to private and parochial (voucher) schools in Wisconsin.” 

Discrimination justified through Christianity

There is no state law protecting LGBTQ+ students from discrimination once enrolled in a voucher school. And the federal Title IX law exempts religious institutions from complying with the anti-discrimination law if it runs counter to their religious beliefs. 

This leaves religious voucher schools like Sheboygan Lutheran free to discipline or even expel gay or transgender students for expressing their gender identity or their sexual orientation. A Wisconsin Watch investigation has found that many have policies that allow such treatment. 

Wisconsin Watch reviewed public materials for about one-third of the state’s 373 voucher schools and found that four out of 10 had policies or statements that appeared to target LGBTQ+ students for disparate treatment. Some had explicitly discriminatory policies, such as expelling students for being gay or transgender. 

All 50 of the voucher schools with anti-LGBTQ+ stances identified by the news organization are Christian, with denominations including Lutherans and Catholics, among others. Almost every school cites religious principles as a basis for their positions.

Suzanne Eckes, an education law professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, argued that language casting gay or transgender identities or behavior as sinful, even without policies codifying the perspective, “has a discriminatory intent behind it.”

She also pointed out how some policies, although not explicit, could result in LGBTQ+ students being treated inconsistently from others. For example, some schools specifically ban all sexual contact outside of a straight, cisgender marriage.

Green Bay Adventist Junior Academy, which has nearly 68% of students on vouchers, says that it “does not discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation (in admissions), but does discriminate on the basis of sexual misconduct,” which includes “homosexual conduct.” Reached by phone, a representative of the school said: “We have no comment.”

Werth, now approaching graduation from college, said his experience, although difficult, was not as hostile as the policies now in place at his alma mater and elsewhere.

“There are plenty of kids in much worse situations, experiencing much worse acts of discrimination, and who aren’t able to speak up for themselves,” he said. “My story’s not even that bad, compared to, like, the trans kids who get expelled for just existing. Or for the gay kids who get beat up all the time and aren’t defended by their school’s administration.” 

Sheboygan Lutheran’s current handbook said it would “take the necessary precautions, in accord with the policies of this document, to avoid bullying and to protect the integrity of those who may express tension or concerns about their biological sex.” 

Research shows that LGBTQ+ youth experience “significantly greater rates” of bullying and suicide attempts than their straight and cisgender peers, according to The Trevor Project. Affirming LGBTQ+ students’ identities can reduce those rates, the advocacy group says.

Transgender students special target of policies

Sheboygan Lutheran’s anti-trans policy credits its approach to the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. 

These policies call for the school to refrain from using the chosen pronouns of any transgender student, employee, personnel, volunteer or contracted vendor. It prohibits puberty blockers on school property if taken for transition-related care. And it requires students to use the facility, athletic team or dress code that “matches their biological sex,” although it does have “individual-use bathrooms which are available for all members of the respective community.”

“Why are they going out of their way to make people feel overtly excluded when they also have individual bathrooms? Why can’t you just say that?” Werth said as he read the policy.

At least 17 other schools reviewed by Wisconsin Watch have anti-transgender policies similar to Sheboygan Lutheran’s. Three carve out exemptions for intersex students with a required note from their doctors. 

The principal for one of those schools, Green Bay Trinity Lutheran, declined an interview twice by email, saying: “We are very busy filling the gap left by the teacher and substitute shortage and have no time for these inquiries.” He said the school operates its voucher programs “fully in accordance with the law” and the beliefs of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.

In recent years, anti-trans laws, such as those banning best-practice medical care or restricting athletic participation, have proliferated, thanks to a highly funded and coordinated far-right campaign. Policies regarding students’ gender identity in public schools have also attracted attention, with transgender youth and allies protesting efforts to deny a person’s chosen name or pronouns, or require parental consent to do so. 

Reviewing his alma mater’s anti-transgender policy, Werth reflected: “If I was a kid with gender dysphoria, or even, like, questioning how people refer to me using my pronouns or if I wanted to use a different name and I read this, if this was what the school provided to me, that would have been extremely traumatic.”

An anti-trans evening

Sheboygan Lutheran has hosted at least one anti-trans event for the public. In April, the school welcomed Christian clinical psychologist Beverly Yahnke, who gave a talk titled “Transgenderism and Sexualization in Our Schools.” 

Promotional materials contained false information, claiming that “Most of our public schools are allowing students to join Gender and Sexualization Alliances without parental or guardian knowledge or permission.” The extracurricular clubs, which bring together LGBTQ+ youth and their student allies, are called Gender and Sexuality or Sexualities Alliances. 

Yahnke cited the American College of Pediatricians, a fringe group of anti-LGBTQ+ physicians that the Southern Poverty Law Center designates a hate group.

And the falsehoods were exhaustive. Yahnke called being transgender a “delusion.” She described the rise in the number of transgender children — who comprise a tiny fraction of the nation’s population — as an “epidemic” like ebola or COVID-19 that “appears to be contagious” with “consequences that can cause illness, self-harm and even death.” 

She described transition-related health care as “primitive” as a lobotomy, which she graphically described, and characterized people who have received desired transition-related care as “irreversibly damaged” and “left … in a wasteland.” 

In a striking moment, she also argued that children should go through natural puberty, without blockers, “to discover what it feels like to be a man, to feel their shoulders broaden to take out their little sister and smack her against the wall.” When an audience member reacted in shock, Yahnke added: “In playful jest, of course.”

Addressing the private school auditorium, Yahnke added to applause: “If your first, second, third, fourth, fifth grade child is learning things, saying things, reading things that flies in the face of the faith they’ve been given by our most Holy God, it’s time to move them from the public school.”

‘Unwanted and unwelcome at school’ 

Ali Muldrow, co-executive director of the LGBTQ+ youth advocacy organization GSAFE, argues the anti-LGBTQ+ policies identified by Wisconsin Watch harm all students — whether cis, trans, straight or gay.

Muldrow and Werth both oppose supporting discriminatory institutions through publicly funded vouchers. 

“I just want to do everything within my power to change this system that facilitates oppression with taxpayer dollars,” Werth said. “And I guess until that day happens, I won’t stop telling my story, just because it’s not right. It’s unjust.” 

The nonprofit Wisconsin Watch (www.WisconsinWatch.org) collaborates with WPR, PBS Wisconsin, other news media and the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Journalism and Mass Communication. All works created, published, posted or disseminated by Wisconsin Watch do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of UW-Madison or any of its affiliates.

‘Unwanted and unwelcome’: Anti-LGBTQ+ policies common at Wisconsin voucher schools  is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom. Subscribe to our newsletters for original stories and our Friday news roundup.

Listen to reporter Phoebe Petrovic discuss this story on WUWM’s show Lake Effect and on WPR.

As an advocacy specialist at Disability Rights Wisconsin, Joanne Juhnke regularly finds herself on the phone with parents concerned about their children’s treatment at school. 

Most complaints concern public schools, which enroll the majority of students. State funding for special education has shrunk, forcing districts to struggle to provide services, and disparate treatment of students with disabilities at public schools persists. But in public school, families have a state body to appeal to: the Department of Public Instruction.

DPI is far less helpful in disputes with private schools, which under state law can legally discriminate against students who need certain disability accommodations — or even kick them out. This applies even to private schools that receive taxpayer-funded tuition vouchers to educate students.

The calls Juhnke receives from voucher families often contain the same story. A family has enrolled a child with disabilities in a private school. Administrators have begun pressuring the student to leave or have kicked them out, something public schools cannot do. The parents are shocked. They’re sure the schools can’t do that. 

Many times, Juhnke has to tell them: Yes, they can. 

“You went into this school choice program thinking that you were the one, as the parents, who have the choice,” she said. “Really, on the other end, the school holds more choice cards than you do, and you’re coming out on the wrong side of that.”

Students vulnerable to expulsion, lack of accommodation

Private schools participating in any of the four state voucher programs — the Milwaukee, Racine and Wisconsin Parental Choice Programs and the Special Needs Scholarship Program — may legally expel students with disabilities if staff determines they cannot accommodate their needs with minor adjustments or deem their behavior too disruptive. 

And as upsetting as this may feel to parents, Juhnke said it’s even worse for the students themselves.

“It’s very disruptive,” she said, adding that “stability for a student with disabilities is often even more important” than for those without disabilities.  

And expelled students’ funding may take time to follow them back to public schools, as voucher payments correspond to pupil counts made early in each semester.

Reviewing public materials for about one-third of the state’s 373 voucher schools, Wisconsin Watch found that about 15% had policies or statements appearing to discriminate against students with disabilities, often citing limited capacity to meet their needs. This figure omits schools that make no mention of disability accommodation. 

“We know not all schools in these programs employ such practices, but the fact that the law allows it is unacceptable,” said DPI communications director Abigail Swetz. “We owe it to our learners and their families to make the necessary changes to ensure these schools provide access to all children, regardless of their ability.”

Between 2013 and 2020, DPI received several complaints alleging disability discrimination at voucher schools — but it determined it had jurisdiction to act in just one of them. Wisconsin Watch has learned the agency quietly suspended its complaint process in 2020 when it comes to students with disabilities attending voucher schools. 

Nicholas Kelly, the president of the state’s leading education privatization advocacy group School Choice Wisconsin, did not answer specific questions but disagreed that private schools discriminate. He shared a statement that read, in part: “Fundamentally, parental choice and educational freedom provide accountability. If parents or students are not satisfied with the education they receive they can choose another school.”

Juhnke and her organization argue that legal discrimination is a “fundamental issue” of the voucher program: “Discrimination is, on some level, baked into the cake.” 

“The requirements on choice schools have been different for students with disabilities from the very inception of the voucher program,” she said. “We have two parallel school systems: one of which is oriented toward serving students with disabilities and the other which never has been.” 

Enrolled one minute, expelled the next?

State law does not prohibit discrimination against students with disabilities at voucher schools. Federal law only requires minimal accommodations, far less than what it requires of public schools, and only applies to recipients of federal funds, such as subsidies to run a lunch program.

When a private school exercises its legal right to expel a student with disabilities, Juhnke’s clients have little recourse. 

The fact that students with disabilities waive legal protections when taking a voucher is one reason Disability Rights Wisconsin is “deeply concerned” about the state’s voucher programs, even the Special Needs Scholarship Program. 

Drafted by the conservative American Legislative Exchange Council, the scholarship program specifically serves students with disabilities. 

Wisconsin’s program requires families receive a document detailing the rights their child will lose, Juhnke said “that doesn’t sink in” until it’s too late. And overall, while the program facilitates private schools in serving more students with disabilities, and expands access to schools dedicated to educating them, she said “it also means that more public funding is going to schools that don’t have to follow the same rules.”

As with LGBTQ+ discrimination, state law requires private schools to restrict admissions considerations of voucher students to statutorily described characteristics, such as residence and income. The statewide program always includes a random lottery, and the Milwaukee and Racine programs include that if the number of applicants exceeds the seats available. 

Yet in practice, the line appears blurred. Said DPI’s Swetz: “The scenario of a student enrolling as a (voucher) student in a private school one minute and being expelled the next is, in fact, possible.”

‘We will not be moving forward with enrollment’

The handbook for Milwaukee’s St. Joan Antida High School, an all girls school with nearly 99% of students on vouchers, states: “Students may be admitted under the Parental Choice Program, but may not be suitable for enrollment if the school cannot meet the needs of the student with minor adjustment to the curriculum.” 

In 2019, a parent complained to DPI of disability discrimination at the school, although it’s unclear from the record if the student was enrolled.

That same year, DPI heard from parents about St. Leonard School in Muskego, which has just under 18% of its students on vouchers. They alleged they were blocked from enrolling their children — it’s unclear whether they were seeking vouchers — solely on the basis of sensory issues. 

Following a school tour, they received an email from the principal, which reportedly stated: “After much prayer and consideration, we will not be moving forward with enrollment for your children at this time. This was not an easy decision. We wish you all the best in your search for a better fit.” 

The parents claimed the school declined to give an explanation. Neither the school nor the Archdiocese of Milwaukee responded to requests for comment.

Exclusion described as a matter of practicality

Although 17 of the 19 voucher schools with policies discriminating against students with disabilities are Christian, none appeared to root their exclusion in theology. (The two secular schools identified are both Waldorf schools, a nondenominational private school prioritizing arts and nature curricula.) Instead, disability discrimination is often phrased in practical, if regretful, terms. 

Fond du Lac Christian School, for example, which has about 63% of its students on vouchers, stated in its 2017-18 handbook that it “desires to serve the needs of students who would be considered at a level of need for which we are equipped to accommodate.” It also stated it “reserves the right to expel any student diagnosed with behavioral disorders … or significant learning disabilities” whom the school cannot “adequately facilitate,” calling it a matter of “recognizing (their) limitations.” 

Fond du Lac Christian blocked a reporter from contacting the school via email and hung up on the phone, so Wisconsin Watch has been unable to obtain a current handbook.

Some schools claimed they did not discriminate on the basis of disability, only to detail policies that exclude students on that basis.

Milwaukee’s Tamarack Waldorf School, with 85% of its students on vouchers, considers working to “increase the diversity of our school community and promote equity and inclusion for all community members regardless of… disability status” one of its guiding principles, according to the current handbook. But the document also acknowledges the school may expel students whose “special needs are greater than the school’s ability to meet them.” 

DPI received two complaints alleging disability-based discrimination at the school in 2018 and 2019. 

Tamarack staff did not respond to emails and a phone message. The Association of Waldorf Schools of North America, which accredits the school, declined to comment on specifics but said it is committed to nondiscrimination on the basis of disability: “As an association, we believe that valuing and supporting diversity, equity and inclusion comprise a journey of both moral and educational importance.”

A failed attempt at accountability

DPI says it may intervene only to stop discrimination against voucher students with disabilities in the admissions process, not after enrollment. In 2011, Disability Rights Wisconsin, along with the American Civil Liberties Union and others, filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Justice seeking to change that. 

Calling on the DOJ to investigate Milwaukee’s voucher program, the ACLU alleged that “many families of students with disabilities are unaware of their rights to use vouchers for private schools, the schools receiving vouchers are not monitored for compliance with the ADA, and students with minor disabilities have been routinely suspended and expelled from the private schools,” according to its website. 

The result, they claimed, was “systematically excluding students with disabilities from participating in the voucher program and segregating them in public schools in disproportionate numbers.”

But after a couple years, little changed. “My sense is that it didn’t move the needle as much as we would have liked,” said Juhnke, who was not with the organization at the time. 

Communications between the DOJ and DPI show that federal attorneys instructed the state agency to take a number of actions to monitor the voucher programs and enforce compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. 

“Our position,” they wrote, “is that DPI must do more to enforce the federal statutory and regulatory requirements that govern the treatment of students with disabilities who participate in the school choice program,” including private and religious schools.

DPI responded that although it was “fully committed to ensuring” nondiscrimination of students with disabilities, it believed that it lacked authority — under state and federal law, as well as court precedent — to fulfill the federal government’s demands. 

“DPI has significant concerns about the DPI’s authority to ensure that Choice schools do not discriminate against students with disabilities,” the agency’s chief legal counsel wrote in a letter.

Years later, Jeffrey Spitzer-Resnick, a civil rights attorney and education advocate who filed the original complaint for Disability Rights Wisconsin, finds the conclusion “highly unfortunate and reprehensible.” He believes the state agency does not need explicit state authority to uphold federal law.

“If the U.S. DOJ says, ‘Hey, your state program violates federal law, but we’re going to look to your DPI to assure us, because you’re the one who runs the program, that it stops violating the law,’ DPI should have done it. But they didn’t,” he said. 

But DPI’s Swetz challenged that premise, saying by email: “DOJ has not concluded the private school choice program violates federal law. In many ways, the DPI wishes it would — then perhaps we would have leverage to make changes. That leverage would help kids because the current situation does not.”

One change DPI undertook was to establish a system to collect complaints about alleged disability discrimination in voucher schools. Juhnke referenced it in an interview with Wisconsin Watch.

But unbeknownst to Juhnke and her colleagues at Disability Rights Wisconsin, DPI quietly closed that complaint mechanism in 2020. In a letter sent to the federal DOJ, Assistant State Superintendent Robert Soldner said the agency lacked the statutory authority to act in all but one complaint it had received.

The agency was ending its formal complaint procedure, the letter said, to “avoid giving complainants false hope that DPI has the ability to address their concerns.” 

The nonprofit Wisconsin Watch (www.WisconsinWatch.org) collaborates with WPR, PBS Wisconsin, other news media and the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Journalism and Mass Communication. All works created, published, posted or disseminated by Wisconsin Watch do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of UW-Madison or any of its affiliates.

Federal, state law permit disability discrimination in Wisconsin voucher schools is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom. Subscribe to our newsletters for original stories and our Friday news roundup.

Editor’s note: This story was updated Friday, May 5, to include additional response from School Choice Wisconsin.

In 2022, the two Fox Valley Lutheran High School students were a few months from graduating when they got called into the dean’s office. 

One was the cheerleading captain and National Honor Society inductee; the other a basketball player, homecoming queen and student council member. Both were accomplished and well-respected students. 

Yet in separate meetings with the dean, they learned they faced expulsion — not for cheating or plagiarizing or breaking the law, but because administrators suspected the young women of dating. 

The school’s handbook states that “any sexual misconduct,” including “homosexual behavior… on or off campus, will be treated as a serious violation of God’s will and may be grounds for disciplinary action or expulsion.” 

State law prohibits public schools from discriminating against students on the basis of sex, sexual orientation or disability, but it does not extend the same protections to private schools — even those receiving public funds. 

Fox Valley Lutheran in Appleton is one of 373 of Wisconsin private schools that currently receive public funding through tuition vouchers. According to this year’s preliminary numbers, they serve more than 52,000 voucher students, which amounts to 6% of all students at Wisconsin publicly funded schools. About one-fifth of voucher schools have 90% or more of their students on vouchers, what one scholar describes as “private in name only.”

Wisconsin spent about $443 million this year on the four choice programs. Some Republicans, including 2022 gubernatorial candidate Tim Michels, have pushed for “universal” school choice, which would allow any Wisconsin student, regardless of income, to attend a private school at taxpayer expense. 

The cheerleading captain, who spoke to Wisconsin Watch on the condition of anonymity to avoid harassment, recalled the dean saying he’d go easy on them because they were good students. The pair could remain enrolled and graduate, so long as they broke up and spoke with a pastor — and after he outed them to their parents.

Leaders from Fox Valley Lutheran did not respond to a request for comment on this account.

The next day, dozens of seniors quietly protested the decision by wearing their school-issued class T-shirts, which were tie-dyed rainbow. The next week, the young woman found herself again meeting with the principal, athletic director and her parents.

She suspected it was “retaliation after the whole rainbow shirt thing” because they’d believed breaking up, religious counseling and forced outing was the “extent” of their punishment. 

The principal, Alan Nolte, began with a prayer that asked the “Heavenly Father” to bless the meeting as they “help to build (the student) up,” according to a recording of the meeting. 

Nolte then proceeded to ban her from any extracurriculars or school activities that were “a little bit more public in nature” for the rest of the year.

He said their relationship was a sin because “the Bible is clear,” but that the administration was treating it as any other code of conduct violation.

“Our chief concern,” Nolte said, “is your spiritual welfare.” 

In an interview, the student said she did not mind a religious school instructing a student to meet with a pastor — but she objected to a taxpayer-funded school meting out punishment based on “moral issues.”  

‘Little can be done’

The cheerleading captain didn’t know it, but another student had reached out on her and her girlfriend’s behalf, asking Gov. Tony Evers for help.

“This week two fantastic athletes, (REDACTED) and (REDACTED) were banned from all team sports for being in a homosexual relationship,” the student wrote in an online complaint. “The entire student body is very upset about this, as this could affect (their) careers in sports when it should not.” 

The student said: “This is discrimination, and I believe it should be addressed on a government level, as the school receives funding from school choice.”

In an email to Wisconsin Watch, Fox Valley Lutheran’s president said the “details” of the complaint were “not accurate,” but he declined to say how.

Records show Evers’ staff sought guidance from the state Department of Public Instruction on how to respond, but acknowledged that “likely little can be done as it is a private institution.” 

In response to questions from Evers’ staff, DPI said it lacked “apparent authority” to intervene on behalf of the student-athletes. It recommended the concerned student contact the school’s governing board or advocacy groups who might connect them with attorneys.

The first governor to raise the LGBTQ+ flag over Wisconsin’s Capitol could not help the gay students. They pretended to break up and laid low until graduation. They’re still dating today.

‘Choice’ for some, not all

Wisconsin is considered the birthplace of the “school choice” movement. The nation’s first publicly funded private voucher program began in Milwaukee in 1990. Initial restrictions, such as limiting vouchers to secular schools, have disappeared as the program has expanded. Today 32 schools — including at least one with an anti-LGBTQ+ stance — have their entire student bodies on publicly funded vouchers.

Legal discrimination against students who are LGBTQ+ or have disabilities results from a lack of state-level protections; a federal exemption that allows religious entities to discriminate against LGBTQ+ students and another that requires schools taking federal funds to make only minor adjustments for students with disabilities; and a state education agency constrained by punctilious rules and decades of litigation.

“It’s unfortunate,” DPI communications director Abigail Swetz told Wisconsin Watch by email. “We want children to be included, welcomed, and safe in all schools, especially those that receive public funding. It is what we expect as good stewards of public dollars and as educators who value all children.” 

The president of School Choice Wisconsin, Nicholas Kelly, said by email that his organization “support(s) and encourage(s) compliance with all rules and processes set in place to address issues of this nature.” He did not respond to specific questions.

After publication, Kelly disputed that private schools discriminate. He provided a statement that read, in part, “Fundamentally, parental choice and educational freedom provide accountability. If parents or students are not satisfied with the education they receive they can choose another school.”

Wisconsin Watch reviewed public materials for about one-third of the state’s voucher schools and found that nearly half had policies or statements that appeared to discriminate against students who are LGBTQ+ or have disabilities, often citing religious principles or lack of capacity to accommodate certain conditions. 

Some handbooks say administrators may decline to enroll students with disabilities whose needs they cannot meet. Others say they might refuse enrollment to students whose families support LGBTQ+ people. Some, like Fox Valley Lutheran, might expel students who engage in “homosexual behavior” off campus. One will even expel students if their parents’ conduct is “contrary to the Bible.” 

“Let’s just stop calling it a ‘choice program,’ ” said Jeffrey Spitzer-Resnick, a civil rights attorney and disability education advocate. “And let’s call it a private discriminatory education program funded with your tax dollars.” 

Several other organizations that support voucher schools ignored repeated requests for comment.

Every voucher school contacted ignored or declined an interview to clarify its positions, as did every association, church or accreditor representing them. Some provided brief, written statements. Two hung up on calls, and one blocked a reporter’s emails. 

In records obtained from DPI, a Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod pastor said he believes “that lifestyles and current viewpoints of LGBTQ individuals clearly oppose the teachings of Scripture and therefore constitute sin that must be addressed. … Within our circles, we would say that ‘this is not discrimination but rather love practiced in the same way a parent would raise a child and announce harm when it is near.’ ” 

Legal scholars and advocates for the LGBTQ+ and disability communities all objected to public dollars supporting institutions with such policies.

“I think it’s a common sense approach — and that the general public would typically agree — that a school that receives taxpayer money shouldn’t be able to discriminate against certain historically marginalized students,” said Suzanne Eckes, an education law professor at University of Wisconsin-Madison. 

“LGBTQ folks are members of the community, we’re taxpayers,” said Ali Muldrow, a Madison School Board member and co-executive director of GSAFE, which advocates on behalf of LGBTQ+ youth in education. “We shouldn’t have to contribute to entities and institutions that discriminate against us.”

‘Am I allowed to expel a student who comes out of the closet?’

Wisconsin lawmakers have declined at least three times to stop voucher schools from discriminating against LGBTQ+ students or those with disabilities. Proposals in 2007, 2013 and 2015 all died without public hearings. Leaders of the education committees in both chambers did not respond to emails from Wisconsin Watch asking if they condone the status quo.

Establishment of all four of the state’s voucher programs — the Milwaukee, Racine and statewide Wisconsin Parental Choice Programs and the Special Needs Scholarship Program — was tucked into larger budget bills and signed by Republican Govs. Tommy Thompson and Scott Walker. 

State law requires voucher schools to comply with a federal code prohibiting discrimination based on race, color or national origin, but no other protected classes. And while they cannot discriminate against LGBTQ+ students or those with disabilities during admissions — limited by statutorily described eligibility criteria — they may do so once that student is enrolled.

It is even legal for a private school to enroll a voucher student “one minute” and expel them “the next,” confirmed Swetz.

Over the years, records show, faith leaders considering joining the voucher program have inquired about this distinction in blunt terms. 

The Rev. Brett Naumann, pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Kiel, asked if he could expel a student who came out as gay or transgender, “provided that it is clearly laid out in our handbook.” A DPI consultant responded: “Once a student has been offered a seat and the student accepts, school policies apply.” 

Naumann’s school is not currently a member of the voucher program, and he referred all questions to the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS), whose spokesperson, Lee Hitter, did not answer specific questions.

He provided a statement that said, in part: “We operate our schools in accordance with all state and federal laws… Prospective families can determine if the mission and beliefs of WELS schools meet the needs of their families and whether to enroll their children.” 

WELS considers it a sin to be transgender or gay. Wisconsin Watch found 17 WELS schools participating in the voucher program with anti-LGBTQ+ policies. 

Enrollment required; expulsion OK

DPI’s authority to protect students who are LGBTQ+ or have disabilities at voucher schools stops at enrollment. 

Take Fond du Lac Christian School. The school sought to join the voucher program in 2017, submitting materials indicating it would deny enrollment to voucher students who were gay or transgender. A DPI consultant directed the school to change the policy and resubmit, as it could only base voucher admissions on family income, prior year enrollment, prior attendance at a voucher school, residency and age. 

The official complied, adding a disclaimer that exempted voucher students from this anti-LGBTQ+ admissions requirement, while maintaining it for privately paying students — a distinction Wisconsin Watch found elsewhere. 

As permitted by law, Fond du Lac Christian School kept in its 2017-18 handbook an eight-point anti-LGBTQ+ policy against enrolled students, as well as parents, employees and members, which bans them from “practicing” their gay or transgender identities. 

Today, about 63% of Fond du Lac Christian School’s students are on vouchers. The current handbook is not publicly available, and school administrator Luke Wagner and other staff blocked a reporter from emailing them after asking for the policy. A receptionist hung up on the same reporter when inquiring by phone.

A ‘cautious’ DPI

DPI risks a lawsuit if its response to claims of discrimination appears to overstep its authority as explicitly described in statute. And a lawsuit, DPI’s Swetz said by email, could create “bad law (court precedent) that would further harm kids.”

DPI also can’t establish rules granting itself additional authority without agreement from the Republican-controlled Legislature.

In the 1990s, at the beginning of the state’s first voucher program, then-State Superintendent of Public Instruction Bert Grover crafted a rule requiring participating private schools to serve students with disabilities similarly to public schools. But it was short lived, with a judge deciding Grover lacked the authority to establish such a rule.

And even after the U.S. Department of Justice ordered DPI in 2013 to end discrimination based on disability in its voucher school program, the agency said it lacked the specific statutory authority to act.

“There is this long-standing pattern in the space of courts and the Legislature of looking for ways to limit DPI’s authority,” said Elisabeth Lambert, attorney and founder of the Wisconsin Education Law and Policy Hub. “All (DPI) can do is apply these very specific procedural mandates that are written into the statute, and there’s no authority outside that.” 

This history has made DPI, in Lambert’s view, “cautious” and “defensive.” Spitzer-Resnick, the other education attorney, has a blunter description: “completely wimpy.” 

“We have to be cautious,” Swetz said. “When it comes to the private school choice programs, we so much as sneeze, and we get sued, and then more kids get hurt.”

‘We operate under what is written in state statutes’

DPI declined to weigh in even when presented with possible violations of state law uncovered by Wisconsin Watch.

Faith Christian School in Williams Bay, which has 17% of its student body on vouchers, requires all families to undergo the school’s admissions process, including providing a “Christian testimony” from one parent, a student/family interview and agreement with the school’s anti-LGBTQ+ and anti-abortion statement of faith. 

State law does not permit private schools to place these additional requirements on voucher students prior to enrollment.

Faith Christian School also vows to leave the voucher program if the state dictates it cannot make enrollment or admissions decisions “based solely on a student’s views or behavior related to … homosexuality; gender; and sexual identity, including the student’s own gender identification.” State law already prohibits that.

Peace Lutheran School in Hartford has a similar application process to Faith Christian, requiring parents to “permit their child to be instructed in the doctrines of Holy Scripture,” as taught by the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod, including “biblical truths” about “homosexuality, same-sex marriage, evolution, pre-marital sex, drug abuse, and the like.”

State law specifically requires voucher schools to honor a voucher family’s request to opt out of religious activities and instruction.

Swetz, DPI’s communications director, said whether Faith Christian’s approach or similar approaches violate state law comes down to timing. 

“If these policies are applied as part of reviewing the student’s Choice eligibility and before the random selection process for the program, then it would be considered a violation,” she said by email. But if it came after the random lottery, it was fine.

Added Swetz: “Wisconsin DPI cannot weigh in on whether certain school’s policies are legal or illegal because we operate under what is written in state statutes.” 

Faith Christian School did not respond to emails or phone messages. But a spokesperson for Association of Christian Schools International, which provides its accreditation, said “it is not discrimination for Christian schools to teach and live out the truths of the historic Christian faith with respect to marriage and human sexuality.”

Federal disability protections limited

Federal law ostensibly provides protections to students with disabilities, but various exemptions limit the effect.

Education legal scholars, lawyers and disability rights activists say that ultimately, when students with disabilities opt out of public school, they waive their most robust protections to an equal education.

Religious schools — nearly all of those receiving Wisconsin vouchers — are exempt from federal laws barring discrimination based on disability unless they take federal funds, and even then, the law requires only “minor adjustments.”

Fond du Lac Christian School, for example, states it “desires to serve” those it is “equipped to accommodate,” but “is not qualified to adequately address all learning disabilities, behavioral disorders or emotional disturbances.” Like Prairie Hill Waldorf School, it reserves the right to expel students if it determines the school cannot meet their needs. 

Joanne Juhnke, an advocacy specialist at Disability Rights Wisconsin, said her organization “fairly regularly” receives calls from parents asking, “ ‘Oh my goodness, can they actually do this?’ ”

Even parents who enrolled their children on Special Needs Scholarship Program vouchers, which lists the rights of students with disabilities in the program compared to public schools, can feel blindsided.

“If you have any memory left of that plain black-and-white document that said you’ve given up some of your rights, it can still come as a surprise to you,” Juhnke said.

How Title IX protects religious freedom, allows LGBTQ+ discrimination

When it comes to LGBTQ+ protections, private religious institutions that receive federal funding are exempt from Title IX, the federal law barring gender-based discrimination in education, if complying with the law would violate a school’s religious tenets. This year, 95% of the state’s voucher schools are religious, Wisconsin Watch found.

Immanuel Lutheran School of Brookfield, which has 71% of its students on vouchers, embodies the exemption. Its handbook tells families that to receive federally subsidized free and reduced lunch, it must display a poster professing it does not discriminate on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation. 

But alongside what they call the “offending poster” is one reaffirming the school’s Christian beliefs that it is a sin to be gay or trans. Elsewhere, the school’s handbook warns that pupils should not “intentionally present their physical features or dress to be opposite his/her sex at conception.”

The basis of a religious exemption to non-discrimination laws has a fraught history. Scholars Suzanne Eckes and Julie Mead write that in the mid-20th century, segregationists attempted to use the theory of “sincerely held religious beliefs” to justify exclusion of Black students. In 1983, the Supreme Court determined private religious schools cannot justify discrimination through faith and still claim public benefits, such as an IRS tax exemption.

Today, Eckes and Mead believe the question has moved to LGBTQ+ students. There’s a potential for litigation challenging Title IX’s religious exemption to LGBTQ+ discrimination, “in the same way that we saw in the ‘50s, ‘60s, all the way up through the early ‘80s of African-American students who weren’t being admitted to private schools,” Eckes said. 

Mead argues that despite the various obstacles DPI faces, Wisconsin has a legal obligation to prevent discrimination within the voucher programs because they are public, state-administered programs.

Mead and Eckes have proposed passing state and federal laws prohibiting private schools taking public funds from discriminating against students who are LGBTQ+ or have disabilities. 

But how that might stand against Title IX’s religious exemption is unclear. As of 2021, Maryland was the nation’s only state to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity in voucher schools. It is currently defending its position in court. 

The nonprofit Wisconsin Watch (www.WisconsinWatch.org) collaborates with WPR, PBS Wisconsin, other news media and the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Journalism and Mass Communication. All works created, published, posted or disseminated by Wisconsin Watch do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of UW-Madison or any of its affiliates.

False choice: Wisconsin taxpayers support schools that can discriminate  is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Voucher schools are private schools that use taxpayer dollars to subsidize the cost of private education for K4-12 students from lower-income families in the form of a voucher. The payments go directly from the state to the school based on the number of voucher students enrolled at the school at the beginning of each semester. 

Parents who qualify may choose to send their children to private voucher schools instead of their local public school.

In Wisconsin, voucher schools are those currently participating in at least one of four state-run, state-funded programs: the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program, the Racine Parental Choice Program, the Wisconsin Parental Choice Program and the Special Needs Scholarship (SNSP) Program. 

For 2023-24, the annual voucher payment is $8,399 for K-8 students, and the schools cannot charge additional tuition from these families. For grade 9-12 students, the annual payment is $9,045, and schools may charge additional tuition if the family’s income exceeds 220% of the federal poverty level, which is $61,050 for a family of four.

Voucher schools cannot charge voucher students fees for registration, but it may charge “reasonable fees for certain personal use items,” according to the Department of Public Instruction. 

There are 373 participating schools for the 2022-23 school year. According to a Wisconsin Watch analysis, 95% of the currently participating schools are religious. Voucher students have a legal right to opt out of religious activity.

These programs often are referred to as “choice” programs or “choice schools.” Because there are additional educational programs advocates refer to as “school choice,” Wisconsin Watch has chosen to use the narrow, specific term “voucher.”

What makes a student eligible for a voucher:

All students must meet certain eligibility criteria, such as residency, income and age. 

For the 2023-24 academic year, the Milwaukee and Racine voucher programs cap family income at 300% of the federal poverty level, which is $83,250 for a family of four, and the statewide voucher program caps it at 220%, which is $61,050 for a family of four.

Students in the SNSP must also have a disability as reflected by an Individualized Education Program (IEP) or services plan. 

Private schools may not consider factors beyond what the statutes describe when making admissions decisions. In the Milwaukee and Racine programs, if there are more voucher applicants than available seats, the school must do a random drawing. This means private schools are not supposed to consider a voucher applicant’s disability or LGBTQ+ status in the admissions process.

What the voucher program costs the state: 

Funding for the statewide and Racine voucher programs and the Special Needs Scholarship Program comes out of the funding for public schools. Districts levy the per student amount to cover the total cost of vouchers, and that total is deducted from the district’s overall aid from the state.

The Milwaukee voucher program is funded through state general purpose revenue and local funding, and also reduces the amount of aid to the public school district, according to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau.

In the 2022-23 school year, Wisconsin spent about $443 million on the four choice programs. 

The latest available numbers from DPI show in the 2021-22 school year, Wisconsin spent $7,728 in state revenue per public school pupil. By comparison, the voucher payments that year were $8,336 in kindergarten through eighth grade, and $8,982 in grades nine through 12th in the Milwaukee, Racine and statewide programs, and $13,013 for Special Needs Scholarship Program vouchers.  

If your child is part of the LGBTQ+ community, they may be legally discriminated against as a voucher student.

After enrollment, LGBTQ+ students attending voucher schools may legally be discriminated against due to their sexual orientation or gender identity.

Although private schools cannot deny admission to voucher students on the basis of LGBTQ+ identity, school policies apply once a student enrolls. There is no state law prohibiting LGBTQ+ discrimination against enrolled students. And religious entities — which comprise 95% of current voucher schools — are exempted from federal Title IX protections against discrimination if complying with the law “would be inconsistent with the religious tenets of the organization.”

A Wisconsin Watch investigation has found that many voucher schools have policies targeting LGBTQ+ students for disparate treatment. Some warn they may discipline or  expel students for being gay or transgender. Others ban recognition of a transgender student’s chosen name or pronouns, or will deny them access to transition-related medication or facilities that align with their gender identity. 

As policies and procedures vary by school, parents or guardians of LGBTQ+ youth should contact the schools they are interested in directly to ask for a copy of the handbook or discuss their application. Many schools also have their handbooks publicly available on their websites.

If your child has a disability they may not have protection as a voucher student.

Students with disabilities lose a host of rights under federal law when they leave public schools. Private voucher schools are “only required to offer services to assist students with special needs that it can provide with minor adjustments,” according to DPI. This document compares the rights afforded to students with disabilities in public schools versus in the Special Needs Scholarship Program.

Although schools cannot consider a voucher student’s disability during admissions, they may expel students if they determine they cannot readily accommodate their needs. A Wisconsin Watch investigation has found some voucher schools appear to have such policies.

As policies and procedures vary by school, parents or guardians of children with disabilities interested in voucher schools should contact the schools they are interested in to ask for a copy of the handbook or discuss their application. 

In some cases, students with disabilities can qualify for services provided by the local public school district. DPI recommends that parents contact the public school district in which the private school is located to see what services, if any, it provides to private school students. 

What to do if you think your child has faced LGBTQ+ or disability discrimination at a voucher school:

If you believe your family has experienced discrimination on the basis of LGBTQ+ or disability status during voucher admissions, you can contact DPI. 

If you believe your family has experienced LGBTQ+ or disability discrimination before or after enrollment, and you would like to challenge it, you can file a federal complaint with the Office for Civil Rights. You may also connect with advocates at groups such as Fair Wisconsin or Disability Rights Wisconsin about your options. Education advocates say you may have more luck in federal court, but a challenge in state court might have the chance to change state law. 

To find more information about voucher schools in Wisconsin:

Wisconsin’s Department of Public Instruction has extensive information on its website. It provides an overview of the programs, which discusses student eligibility. Application guidelines describe how to apply for enrollment in the 2023-24 school year, including the open application periods. Frequently asked questions cover everything from religious activities, transferring and the type of residency documentation required. 

The nonprofit Wisconsin Watch (www.WisconsinWatch.org) collaborates with WPR, PBS Wisconsin, other news media and the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Journalism and Mass Communication. All works created, published, posted or disseminated by Wisconsin Watch do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of UW-Madison or any of its affiliates.

Considering a Wisconsin voucher school? Here’s what parents of children who are LGBTQ+ or have a disability should know. is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.