Case Name: School Choice Wisconsin Action, Inc. v. Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction
Type of Case: Education
Court: Waukesha County Circuit Court
Case Number: 2019-CV-574
Filed On: March 27, 2019
Current Status: Case won, and closed. Court granted summary judgment for SCWA, the state did not appeal
Wisconsin’s brutal 2019 winter with record-setting cold temperatures and snowfalls led to far more school closures than is normal. Schools have chosen to use some creative measures to make up those lost days, including holding “virtual learning” sessions where students take lessons online.
Wisconsin law requires public schools and private schools participating in the voucher program to provide a minimum number of “direct pupil instruction” per year. By administrative regulation, DPI allows public schools to use virtual learning to count toward those minimum hours, but denies the exact same opportunity to voucher schools.
The exact same term – direct pupil instruction – is used in both the public school statute and voucher school statute. DPI has absolutely no justification for defining the term differently for private schools, so we sued to require DPI to treat both types of schools the same.
CASE DOCUMENTS
- PDF: Complaint
- PDF: Answer
- PDF: Plaintiff’s Brief in Support of Motion for Summary Judgement
- PDF: Defendant’s Notice of Motion and Motion for summary Judgement
- PDF: Defendant’s Response to Plaintiff’s Motion for Summary Judgement & Brief in Support of Defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgement
- PDF: Plantiff’s Response Brief in Opposition and Reply Brief
- PDF: Defendant’s Reply in Support of Their Motion for Summary Judgement
- PDF: Judge’s Decision