Feds end Milwaukee voucher investigation

The U.S. Department of Justice has quietly ended a 4-year investigation into Milwaukee’s pioneering school voucher program.

News of the department’s decision, which came before the Christmas holiday, trickled out this week. The Milwaukee Sentinel Journal reports the department notified the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction in a Dec. 23 letter.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin and Disability Rights Wisconsin triggered the investigation with a 2011 complaint. They contended schools accepting vouchers discriminated against special-needs students with disabilities in violation of Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. As a result, the groups argued, the program would lead to increased segregation as those students disproportionately remained in Milwaukee public schools.

The groups behind the complaint had tried to stop 2011 legislation that lifted the enrollment cap on the voucher program, increased the income eligibility and allowed any eligible private school in the state of Wisconsin to accept voucher students.

The federal agency collected state data, reviewed rules, outlined suggested changes and interviewed families with special needs children. Its letter does not draw any conclusions about segregation or discrimination. It does state the “department has determined that no further action is warranted at this time, and is formally closing its investigation,” though it could look into “future complaints, if any.”

School choice advocates have long criticized the investigation, and groups like the American Federation for Children drew parallels with a federal probe of statewide vouchers in Louisiana. The Pelican State investigation was dogged by accusations of political motivations, and a federal appeals court rejected a related lawsuit in November.

“After four years, this secretive investigation has come to an end,” Jim Bender, President of School Choice Wisconsin, said in a press release. “The DOJ has now reaffirmed what the [state department of education] stated all the way back in 2011 – there is no record of the school choice programs in Wisconsin discriminating against students with special needs.”

The Milwaukee Parental Choice Program, founded in 1990 for low-income students, is the oldest K-12 voucher program of its kind. About 27,000 students receive scholarships worth an average of $7,366.

While the voucher investigation is closed, Wisconsin still faces a lawsuit alleging discrimination against special needs children seeking to participate in the state’s public school open enrollment program.

Wisconsin passed a separate voucher program for students with special needs in the summer of 2015. That program begins in the 2016-17 school year and offers scholarships to special needs students denied admissions to public schools under the state’s inter-district open enrollment policy. Scholarships will be worth up to $12,000.

Some school choice options might not meet the needs of every student. But it’s crucial to create programs that meet the unique needs of students — including those with special needs — whom the traditional education system has struggled to serve.