DPI Expels Two Voucher Schools from Program

The Department of Public Instruction expelled two schools from Milwaukee's private school voucher program Wednesday (July 14, 2004).

Alex’s Academics of Excellence and the Mandella School of Science and Math were prohibited from participating in the voucher program for failure to comply with financial information requirements. In addition, Mandella owes the state Department of Public Instruction $330,000 because it failed to return voucher overpayments.

“The action exposes the voucher program’s flaws and demonstrates once again why elected officials at all levels should focus on helping public schools,” said WEAC President Stan Johnson. “These schools are living proof that the voucher program wastes taxpayer money.”

News of the expulsions came as President Bush, a proponent of private school vouchers, visited Waukesha, Ashwaubenon and Fond du Lac.

"We hope President Bush will hear about this as he visits Wisconsin. Instead of undermining public education, he should realize the way to create classrooms that work for every child is to invest in public education, which is the foundation of our democracy," Johnson said.

Alex's and Mandella have been the subject of numerous news accounts of financial mismanagement and illegal activities.

Last year, Alex's was evicted for failure to pay rent even though it received $2.8 million from the state. The school's chief executive officer, James Mitchell, a convicted rapist, allegedly mismanaged the school's funds and allowed his employees to use drugs on school grounds.

Mandella's founder and principal, David Seppeh, was charged with felony theft last month for cashing more than 200 checks issued by the state for families whose children never enrolled at the school. According to the criminal complaint, Seppeh allegedly used a portion of the money to buy two Mercedes Benz cars.

Milwaukee judge ordered Mandella closed in February after evidence of financial mismanagement surfaced, thanks in part to a series of articles published in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

“The public should be outraged that these abuses continued for as long as they did,” Johnson said. “There may be other abuses, but we do not know about them because the schools are not accountable to the public. We have no idea how our tax dollars are being used and whether children are receiving a good education. We should focus our effort on programs that we know work, like the SAGE class-size reduction program and four-year-old kindergarten, to ensure that every kid has a great school.”

Resource page on private school vouchers

Posted July 14, 2004