Right-Wing Groups Sue DPI On Test Scores
They claim “selective” release of data. DPI says it followed state law.
School classroom. Image by Wokandapix on Pixabay
The rightwing Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL) filed a lawsuit on Wednesday against the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI), claiming the agency violated state law by “selectively” releasing data on test scores from charter and private voucher schools. WILL is representing School Choice Wisconsin (SCW), WILL Research Director Will Flanders, and Matt Kittle, who is the executive director of the new conservative advocacy group Empower Wisconsin.
In the lawsuit, WILL complains that DPI failed to release school data “all at the same time, uniformly, and completely,” by giving media an embargoed press release and holding a press call with reporters to explain data that would be released the next day.
One of the participants in the press call was talk radio host and rightwing reporter Matt Kittle, who stated in a press release about the launch of Empower Wisconsin that the group “will educate, advocate and mobilize conservative voices with a strong and well-defined issue agenda. In addition, it will develop a network of like-minded organizations at the state and federal levels to maximize the power of our collective efforts.”
The WILL lawsuit argues that by giving journalists, including Kittle, access to early information about test scores, but denying access to the press call to WILL’s research director, DPI was breaking the law.
“When WILL and WILL Research Director Will Flanders were denied the ability to participate in the September 11 press call, this violated the law’s ‘all at the same time,’ ‘uniform,’ and ‘complete’ requirements,” the group states.
WILL also claims that grouping together test-score data for school-voucher students in the statewide program with data on students in Milwaukee and Racine is “misleading, and an unfair characterization of the choice program” that violates the law.
DPI responded to the lawsuit with the following statement: “DPI publicly released all statewide assessment data on the same day, September 12, which can be found here.
“The department provided complex assessment data to the news media one day earlier simply to allow them lead-time to write their stories, including in-depth print articles. The department followed the law in the public release of this information.”
Reprinted with permission of Wisconsin Examiner.
WILL has evolved into the political thugs of the fringe right wing movement. If some conservative ideologue does not like something, he or she will sic a gaggle of lawyers from WILL on the person or institution no matter what the legal standing of the complaint.