Wisconsin taxpayers support schools that can discriminate
By Phoebe Petrovic, Wisconsin Watch
Updated
Taxpayer-funded vouchers make eligible families better able to afford a private school education, but students who are LGBTQ+ or have disabilities lose rights they would have in the public school system. (Amena Saleh / Wisconsin Watch)
In 2022, a sophomore at Fox Valley Lutheran High School asked Gov. Tony Evers’ office for help after two gay students were allegedly banned from sports for being in a relationship. The private school receives public funding through Wisconsin’s voucher, or “school choice,” programs. Fox Valley’s 2014 graduation ceremony in Appleton, Wis. is shown in this photo. (Dan Powers / Post-Crescent Media)
Professor Suzanne Eckes teaches education law, policy and practice at the School of Education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She thinks it’s “common sense” that schools receiving “taxpayer money shouldn’t be able to discriminate against certain historically marginalized students.” (Courtesy of University of Wisconsin-Madison)
In 2020, Rev. Brett Naumann, pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Kiel, emailed the state Department of Public Instruction with questions related to the treatment of gay and transgender students if his school joined the voucher program. A postcard of Trinity Lutheran Church shortly after it was completed in 1918. (Image courtesy of the Heritage Collection at Kiel Public Library)
An excerpt from a 2020 email sent to the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, obtained through open records, shows that Trinity Lutheran’s Rev. Brett Naumann asked the agency if, upon joining the voucher program, he could expel students who came out as gay or transgender. DPI responded it is legal under state law. (Screenshot of an email from Pastor Brett Naumann to Department of Public Instruction)
Faith Christian School in Williams Bay, Wis. requires all families to undergo an admissions process that requires agreement with an anti-LGBTQ+ statement of faith. State law does not permit private schools to place additional requirements on voucher students prior to enrollment. (Screenshot from Google Maps)
A screenshot from the handbook of Immanuel Lutheran School in Brookfield, Wis. shows that the private school, which has 71% of its students on taxpayer-funded vouchers, displays a poster countering an anti-discrimination statement from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which funds free and reduced lunch at the school. (Screenshot from Immanuel Brookfield’s handbook)
Taxpayer-funded vouchers make eligible families better able to afford a private school education, but students who are LGBTQ+ or have disabilities lose rights they would have in the public school system. (Amena Saleh / Wisconsin Watch)
In 2022, a sophomore at Fox Valley Lutheran High School asked Gov. Tony Evers’ office for help after two gay students were allegedly banned from sports for being in a relationship. The private school receives public funding through Wisconsin’s voucher, or “school choice,” programs. Fox Valley’s 2014 graduation ceremony in Appleton, Wis. is shown in this photo. (Dan Powers / Post-Crescent Media)
A screenshot from the handbook of Immanuel Lutheran School in Brookfield, Wis. shows that the private school, which has 71% of its students on taxpayer-funded vouchers, displays a poster countering an anti-discrimination statement from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which funds free and reduced lunch at the school. (Screenshot from Immanuel Brookfield’s handbook)
Faith Christian School in Williams Bay, Wis. requires all families to undergo an admissions process that requires agreement with an anti-LGBTQ+ statement of faith. State law does not permit private schools to place additional requirements on voucher students prior to enrollment. (Screenshot from Google Maps)
An excerpt from a 2020 email sent to the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, obtained through open records, shows that Trinity Lutheran’s Rev. Brett Naumann asked the agency if, upon joining the voucher program, he could expel students who came out as gay or transgender. DPI responded it is legal under state law. (Screenshot of an email from Pastor Brett Naumann to Department of Public Instruction)
In 2020, Rev. Brett Naumann, pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Kiel, emailed the state Department of Public Instruction with questions related to the treatment of gay and transgender students if his school joined the voucher program. A postcard of Trinity Lutheran Church shortly after it was completed in 1918. (Image courtesy of the Heritage Collection at Kiel Public Library)
Professor Suzanne Eckes teaches education law, policy and practice at the School of Education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She thinks it’s “common sense” that schools receiving “taxpayer money shouldn’t be able to discriminate against certain historically marginalized students.” (Courtesy of University of Wisconsin-Madison)
