Charter school are notorious for being unwilling or unprepared to serve students with disabilities. Some actively discourage enrollment of such students. In Milwaukee, the schools have gotten their hand slapped for their shenanigans. Diane Ravitch picked this up recently. The ACLU filed a complaint in 2011, and the USDOE responded in May:
"The state cannot, by delegating the education function to private voucher schools, place students beyond the reach of the federal laws that require Wisconsin to eliminate disability discrimination in its administration of public programs," DOJ officials wrote in the letter to Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction Superintendent Tony Evers.
In the letter, the DOJ firmly establishes that the Americans with Disabilities Act applies to voucher programs, with potentially far-reaching impact across the country. Twenty states and the District of Columbia currently offer taxpayer-funded voucher programs or tax credits permitting students to use public funds for private school education.
"The Department of Justice has affirmed that private schools that receive taxpayer dollars do not operate in a civil rights vacuum," said Courtney Bowie, senior staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union Racial Justice Program.
Hallelujah!!!
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