Charter Schools Should Accept All Students

Allowing charter schools to refuse to educate disabled students is unfair and runs counter to the principles underlying charter schools, according to a WEAC response to a recent editorial in a state newspaper.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel editorialized in favor of allowing charter schools run by the City of Milwaukee to refuse to fully educate disabled children.

“This would be unfair to non-charter public schools, which are required to educate all children, and - more importantly - terribly unfair to children with disabilities,” according to a response written by WEAC Legal Services Director Bruce Meredith. and sent to the newspaper

“The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and other remedial legislation have been crucial in remedying ingrained discrimination patterns against certain children and have allowed many students to succeed who otherwise would have been ignored. These laws can be costly and complicated, but they are good public policy and should be applied to all schools that demand full public funding.”

Meredith said if one of the purposes of charter schools is to foster competition, then all schools should play by the same rules.

“Wisconsin must be careful not to allow its charter school laws to be misused and permit discrimination under the guise of innovation,” according to Meredith.

Posted October 1, 1998