Wisconsin Weekly: Public schools deny choices to kids with disabilities

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Wisconsin Weekly is a roundup of the week’s top stories from around the state by Wisconsin Watch and trusted news outlets. Access to some stories may be limited to subscribers of the news organizations that produced them. We urge our readers to consider supporting these important news outlets by subscribing, and sign up to get our free newsletters here.

Here are your headlines from Wisconsin Watch and trusted news outlets for people who care deeply about the state.

Of note: We’ve published two new stories in our series examining discrimination in Wisconsin school choice programs. Mario Koran found that public schools disproportionately reject applications of students with disabilities who seek transfers across district lines through the state’s open enrollment program. Wisconsin districts in 2021-22 rejected about 40% of students with disabilities who applied for open enrollment, compared to just 14% of students without disabilities. One suburban Madison district announced 115 slots for incoming open enrollment students — but none for children with disabilities. Separately, Phoebe Petrovic revealed anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination in private schools that receive taxpayer-funded vouchers. One school welcomed an anti-trans speaker who 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.”

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Access to some stories listed in the Wisconsin Weekly roundup may be limited to subscribers of the news organizations that produced them. We urge our readers to consider supporting these important news outlets by subscribing.

Thanks for reading!

Matthew DeFour

Statehouse bureau chief

Education

Administrators of Sheboygan Lutheran High School canceled valedictorian Nat Werth’s speech in 2019 after he came out as gay in a draft of the speech. Four years later, Werth said the school’s handbook has expanded to include extensive anti-LGBTQ+ policies. (Amena Saleh / Wisconsin Watch)

Wisconsin students with disabilities often denied public school options

Wisconsin Watch — May 31, 2023

Roughly 70,000 Wisconsin students attend public schools outside their home districts through open enrollment. The program 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. (Amena Saleh / Wisconsin Watch)

‘Unwanted and unwelcome’: Anti-LGBTQ+ policies common at Wisconsin voucher schools

Wisconsin Watch — May 31, 2023

Politics

Pilar Estrada votes at Bashford United Methodist Church in Madison, Wis., on April 4, 2023. Along with local elections, voters were deciding whether conservative Dan Kelly or liberal Janet Protasiewicz will join the Wisconsin Supreme Court. (Coburn Dukehart / Wisconsin Watch)

‘Numbers Nobody Has Ever Seen’: How the GOP Lost Wisconsin

Politico— May 30, 2023

Wisconsin Republicans are reeling from a series of statewide election losses. The overturning of Roe v. Wade last year appears to be a major reason. “What the Republican base demands and what independent voters will accept are growing further apart,” Waupun Mayor Rohn Bishop told Politico’s David Siders.

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Anti-semitism

The Meadows family stand on the porch of their Sherman Park home. Front row, left to right: Naama and Sarah; middle row: Sima, Michele, and Yonason; back row: Meira and Elazar. (Ebony Cox / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

Two years ago, back-to-back attacks rattled an Orthodox Jewish family. Now, they reflect on their place in Milwaukee.

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel — May 31, 2023

There has been a nearly 500% increase in antisemitic incidents in Wisconsin since 2015 and it’s not just coming from people associated with hate groups, according to the Milwaukee Jewish Federation. “What we’re seeing is people saying things out loud that they used to whisper,” said Miryam Rosenzweig, president of the Milwaukee Jewish Federation.

Lead poisoning

Deanna Branch holds a photo of her son, who was hospitalized twice for lead exposure, during a news conference with Vice President Kamala Harris in January 2022 in Milwaukee. (Mark Hoffman / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

Two-thirds of Wisconsin’s lead poisoned children live in Milwaukee. Just one provision to help them remains in the state budget.

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel — May 25, 2023

Milwaukee children make up nearly two-thirds of Wisconsin’s childhood lead poisoning cases, with Black children four-times more likely to test positive for lead poisoning compared to white children statewide. But Republicans on the Legislature’s budget-writing committee have stripped all but one of Gov. Tony Evers’ budget proposals to tackle childhood lead poisoning.

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