Local Control: DEI or a Great Education?

This post originally appeared at https://wifamilycouncil.org/radio/local-control-dei-or-a-great-education/

2024 | Week of December 16 | Radio Transcript #1597

Next month, Donald Trump will return to the White House to install a new Administration. This administration includes a new Secretary of Education, Linda McMahon, who has promised to overhaul the U.S. Department of Education, with the goal of returning more control over education to state and local school districts.

Of course, on paper, this could be a great thing. More local control is almost always better in terms of outcomes for students and teachers, but is that truly the case in Wisconsin? Are our state and local education systems prepared to make decisions in the interest of better educational outcomes, or are they focused more on expanding woke, radical DEI agendas that rob students of opportunities and achievement?

In February, enrollment windows will open for school choice options in Wisconsin, and many parents will begin the process of considering which educational option

works best for their children and their families. Many will consider leaving the state’s public school system.  It’s becoming easy to understand why.

One major reason more Wisconsin families are considering exercising their educational freedom is because standards for education continue to be lowered. And decision-makers remain quiet about the rationale for the lowering of those standards.

Last month, after the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, or DPI, released new report card data lowering academic standards, Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty issued a statement criticizing DPI for creating an expectation of mediocrity in our school systems. WILL said changes to both the Forward Exam and state report cards have created an accountability system that outright hides declining academic achievement.

Of course, when schools or DPI lower achievement standards, they will always see lower achievement results. Our schools should expect excellence from students, not encourage mediocrity.

DPI’s attempts to hide the academic decline helps no one and is a disservice to students and to parents who want the best education for their children. Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty is right. When the state legislature resumes business next month, the legislators should rein in DPI’s ability to unilaterally change accountability standards.

Here’s the truth: academic standards must be blind to race, religion, and socioeconomic status. Achievement must be measured on the merits of work and comprehension; but today, we appear to be on a path designed to award achievement based not on quality, but on the concepts of diversity, equity, and inclusion alone.

And we have a perfect illustration of why this standard-lowering should encourage parents to consider their options. Recently, Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty threatened legal action against the Wauwatosa School District and its Superintendent after they announced plans to shut down the Wauwatosa STEM School and to close other STEM-specific programs and opportunities district wide because the programs were “too white.”

Federal law and the U.S. Constitution prohibit school districts from implementing policies to “racially balance” student populations, yet it appears this District is using race to make decisions on the continuation of programs regardless of the law, instead keeping students from beneficial educational opportunities on the back of a radical, woke DEI political agenda.

This is a tragedy for students and families who just want their children to have the opportunity to get a good education. Being excluded from the opportunity to achieve simply because your race is not preferred is a horrible practice and precedent to set.

Other examples, sadly, abound. School districts are pushing policies that extend special rights and privileges to students who are struggling with gender confusion, resulting in the privacy and safety of other students being compromised. Frequently we hear from parents who are alarmed at what their children are being taught from kindergarten up about sexual orientation, gender identity, contraception and abortion, America’s history, socialism, and more.

Wisconsin Family Council implores Wisconsin parents to consider the options when choosing the right educational path for your child.  Resources are available, whether that means continuing in a public school, claiming a voucher for a private school, or taking full control of the education of your children through homeschooling.  You don’t get a second chance to provide a great education.

For Wisconsin Family Council, this is Julaine Appling, reminding you that God, through the Prophet Hosea, said, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.”