DPI Criticizes Germantown for Sharing Opt-Out Information

This is the game that government plays… of course parents can opt out, they say, but if the district actually informs parents of that fact and is helpful about it, then the district risks funding. In other words, according to the DPI, the school district is incented to hide and discourage parents from exercising their options that bigger government doesn’t like.

By LINDA MCALPINE

Daily News

GERMANTOWN — Some members of the Germantown School Board feel they did nothing wrong in providing parents in the district with information on how to opt out their children of taking state assessments, but the state’s Department of Instruction disagrees and wrote the district a letter stating as much.

Dated June 30, the DPI letter notes 81 percent of students in the district opted out of assessments.

“State law allows parents to opt their children out of these assessments; there is no such opt-out provision in federal law. Evidence indicates the Germantown School District actively solicited or encouraged parents to opt their children out of assessments, in clear violation of the federal law,” the letter states. “These actions jeopardize significant federal funding for the Germantown School District and for all other districts in the state.”

The letter notes that the DPI “is placing the district in high-risk status for not meeting federal assessment requirements, that are in turn, necessary to access federal funding.”

The letter states the district has 30 days to “submit a written plan of corrective action delineating the specific steps the district will implement to ensure all students have access to federally required assessments and that access is not hindered by district policy or communication.”

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0653, 13 August 2015

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Politics - Wisconsin

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9 Comments

Ginny Maziarka on August 13, 2015 at 7:05 am

Bully much?
Mike on August 13, 2015 at 7:50 am

It’s time citizens got more active in voicing their concerns. DPI should be flooded with calls and emails from citizens voicing their displeasure over being denied information that would allow them to make an informed choice.

This should happen every time any gov agency tries this tactic. They would soon learn it is easier to serve the public.
Kevin Scheunemann on August 13, 2015 at 10:44 am

What was the last useful thing DPI did for education?

Walker should Abolish DPI.
dad29 on August 13, 2015 at 10:50 am

The Golden Rule in play. Same crap as “endangering highway funding” if we don’t build bike-paths next to I-94 or something.
Mark Maley on August 13, 2015 at 6:20 pm

Just send the fed money to districts
That read the fine print .

I think that’s part of the districts job

Germantown was proud of their actions in moving kids away from the testing

Now they can pay the price for their cleverness
Kevin scheunemann on August 14, 2015 at 7:54 am

Mark,

Would you feel the same way if funding was withheld by a DPI edict that teaching or advocating abortion is prohibited when MPS defies that edict?

Methinks you would be railing against the top down dictates from DPI.
Mark Maley on August 14, 2015 at 2:15 pm

Not a concern since DPI doesn’t do either .
Michael Schwister on August 16, 2015 at 10:33 am

It seems that ideologues on the board have once again miss-informed the parents of an entire district. The consequences of such miss-information is having a reality check. Now you’ve got that reality check. Welcome to the rest of Wisconsin.
Kevin Scheunemann on August 16, 2015 at 1:47 pm

I’ll bite.

How is informing parents of how to “opt out” qualify as mis-information?

Do parents need to be protected by their liberal masters at DPI from hearing the options?

Well informed parents is a bad thing?