State Pulls School's Money
Some in voucher plan call Woodson cutoff a racial issue
By Alan J. Borsuk, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Last Update: May 10, 2006
A long-simmering dispute between the state Department of Public Instruction and one of the schools that has been in Milwaukee's voucher program the longest came to a boil Tuesday with the DPI cutting off the school's money and leaders of a half-dozen voucher schools accusing the department of targeting black schools.
Woodson Academy, which has been in the private school voucher program since 1995 and has received more than $9 million in public money, did not comply with specific regulations related to applying for payment for individual students, despite repeated efforts by DPI administrators to work with the school, DPI officials said.
The order against Woodson, signed by Tony Evers, the deputy state superintendent of schools, also said parent signatures on some voucher applications had been forged and that a school official's signature had been forged on some papers.
Dennis Alexander, who heads the school, denounced the DPI decision, calling the DPI version of what had gone on in recent months "a bald-faced lie." He said the school would fight the order in court.
DPI ordered Woodson to repay the state $623,192 it had been paid this year. Alexander said DPI had withheld about $250,000 that the school was entitled to.
Alexander said the school has about 175 students. At points in the past, it has had as many as 290, according to DPI records. The school is renting a former Milwaukee Public Schools elementary school at 2215 N. 4th St. and has used space in at least three other locations in recent years.
The DPI order said, "The school, by failing to verify student eligibility for the program, misrepresented information provided on the student application and claimed payment for students that the school had not verified were eligible for the program.
"In addition, based upon the department's own investigation of the signatures on the copies of applications, the department has determined that the school has forged signatures on students' applications."
David Feiss, a Milwaukee County assistant district attorney, said DPI had sent information on Woodson to his office, and investigators and police detectives are working to find out if criminal conduct occurred.
Woodson is the fourth school ordered out of the voucher program during this school year. In the two previous years, four other voucher schools were closed by the DPI or a judge during the school year, leaving hundreds of students in need of reassignment. All of the schools have been operated by African-Americans and served mostly African-American students.
'A racial situation'
At a news conference held at Woodson shortly before DPI released the order, leaders of about a half-dozen voucher schools, including Alexander, said DPI was going after black schools over issues that amounted to dotting i's and crossing t's.
"The schools that have been closed, why have they all been black schools?" said Shirley Butler, who runs Nzingha Institute of Creative Learning for Living, a high school program at 2760 N. 1st St. that is finishing its first year. "It's obviously a racial situation. It's obvious. It's plain as day."
Alexander said none of the people working for DPI in supervision of the voucher program is black.
Asked in an interview whether race was a factor in the DPI's actions, Evers said, "Absolutely not."
Asked why all of the schools that have been ordered out of the program were black, Evers said: "I can't answer that. The only schools that have been targeted are schools that had issues related to compliance with the law. Our obligation is paramount on that issue. We administer this law fairly and consistently."
He said DPI viewed the Woodson problems as much more serious than dotting i's.
Alexander said the school had made mistakes in handling paperwork, but they had been addressed and did not affect the education the school was giving children.
"They're doing things right now just to shut us up," Alexander said of DPI. "It just makes me fight them a little harder."
The above story appeared in the May 10, 2006 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.