(The Lion) — A Wisconsin school district shut down a successful charter school for having too many white students. Now, it may face a federal investigation for violating civil rights.
The Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL) has filed a complaint with the federal Office of Civil Rights, alleging the Wauwatosa School District (WSD) violated the students’ civil rights.
While revamping its STEM programming, Wauwatosa leadership said numerous times it was a concern that “the racial demographic makeup of the student population is not as diverse as the overall District.”
In other words, there were too many white students.
“Both WSD and its Task Force clearly viewed the populations of white students in any given program or school as a negative factor that must be corrected,” WILL wrote.
Noting that “race says nothing about a person’s inherent worth as an individual,” and that “racial balancing efforts … reduce, categorize, and assign importance to persons according to their race,” WILL’s complaint quotes court precedent saying such measures can only “cause continued hurt and injury.”
WSD’s attitude was particularly shocking in the case of Wauwatosa STEM (WSTEM), a charter school U.S News & World Report said was the highest-performing elementary school in Wauwatosa and the fifth-highest in all Wisconsin.
Recent state reports also corroborate that WSTEM has much higher ratings than the Wauwatosa district. WSD has an overall score of 72.3, with reading and math achievement in the low 70s. In comparison, WSTEM has a score of 93.8, with near-perfect achievement in reading and math.
Nevertheless, district leadership voted to close WSTEM at the end of October.
“Shutting down science and math programs because too many white students are in the program is despicable, and illegal,” WILL counsel Dan Lennington said in a press release. “As we promised to do, WILL is taking every legal action available to reverse this damaging decision. If the Biden administration does not open an investigation, we hope the new Trump Administration will.”
The complaint also has the support of WSD board member Michael Meier, who has been on the school board since 2004.
“Students and families deserve a high-quality education, which is why I am speaking out,” Meier said. “The prolonged, arbitrary DEI-driven focus on racial composition has, in my view, undermined both education and safety, now culminating in the push to close the WSTEM school. I welcome a federal investigation and urge the public to join me in speaking out.”
The decision to shut WSTEM down also puzzled local families who liked the school.
“This program is a success,” said Stephen Mayer, whose grandson attended the charter. “From everything I’ve heard and every person I’ve talked to, it’s a success.
“They shouldn’t shut it down. They should expand it.”
