Private schools participating in the new voucher program voiced their opinions against a bill that would hold the schools accountable for poor student achievement.
During a public hearing Thursday, bill author Sen. Luther Olsen, R-Ripon, said parents and community members should know which schools are succeeding and which ones are not through public “report cards,” regardless of whether they are public, private, chartered or part of the voucher program.
Olsen said schools receiving taxpayer dollars should be subject to measures to ensure the school is performing well.
Sue Nelson, Wisconsin Council of Religious and Independent Schools vice president, said the data used for the accountability program could invade the privacy of students and their families.
Nelson added the portion of the bill requiring schools to report the scores of students involved in the voucher program separate from other students could skew the data used for the report card, even though parents have the option to opt out of including their children’s information.
“Parents are free to opt out of testing, that is their right, and someone had mentioned this,” Nelson said. “Oftentimes, parents who opt out, opt out because it serves as an identifier that their child is choice. It is most often the very savvy parents who make that decision to opt out.”
Nelson said students who opt out are often high performing students, and once students opt out, they are given the average score, which can lead to a lower grade.
Despite Nelson’s objection to the possibility of skewed data, School Choice Wisconsin President Jim Bender said an accountability program for all schools, including those in the choice program, is necessary for parents to make a choice about schools.
Bender said while the bill has good intentions, it is far too complex and leaves too many decisions up to the Department of Public Instruction.
Olsen said people are concerned about the DPI and its treatment of different types of schools, but the bill has two measures to ensure fairness: a statute that the DPI would have to treat schools fairly and DPI would send all calculations to the Legislative Audit Bureau.
Bender said turning data calculations to the LAB is not helpful since they have no authority to change how DPI conducts its report card calculations.
“A review from the audit bureau, that’s not a very open process where they can’t make any corrective action,” Bender said. “They don’t have any teeth.”
Bender added his organization is concerned with the bill in its current form, especially since the DPI was not in favor of school choice when it passed in June through the budget bill.
Nelson had no issues with the LAB audits, but said said the data used to calculate grades for schools is not clarified properly in the bill, and does not allow for other variables that go into student achievement.
“For anyone who was worked with a child or has been in a classroom, and has seen that growth over time, and still see them performing at a level that isn’t deemed acceptable or appropriate,” Nelson said. “It kind of negates that the growth has taken place.”
