Many Taxpayer Funds Voucher Schools in Wisconsin Can Legally Discriminate Against Certain Students

Tuesday, June 6th, 2023 -- 3:01 PM

(By Phoebe Petrovic | Wisconsin Watch) Nat Werth surveyed the "gender identity and theory" section of the handbook for his alma mater, Sheboygan Lutheran High School, with shock and sadness, according to Phoebe Petrovic with Wisconsin Watch.

"This was not in the school’s handbook when I attended," the 2019 graduate and valedictorian said. "Wow, this is gonna make me cry. I cannot believe that this happened." The school’s current handbook dedicates over 1,000 words to a policy that uses Biblical teachings as the basis for its anti-transgender policies.

Werth recalled that the handbook from his time as a student had, at most, a line about gender identity. But parts of the new anti-LGBTQ+ policies felt familiar. As Werth was preparing to graduate, he drafted a valedictory speech in which he planned to come out as gay and critique homophobic Biblical interpretations as archaic, mistranslated or misconstrued. Administrators canceled his remarks.

Sheboygan Lutheran is a private school that receives public funding through tuition vouchers, which currently subsidize nearly 40 percent of its students. Administrators ignored repeated requests by phone and email for an interview.

When a reporter recently again asked Executive Director Paul Gnan for a comment in person, Gnan smiled and said: "Absolutely not." Across Wisconsin, four voucher programs serve about 52,000 voucher students, which comprises 6 percent of students at public schools; 95 percent of the participating schools are religious.

Diploma in hand, Werth began researching Wisconsin’s voucher programs. He learned that private schools receiving public funds can legally discriminate against LGBTQ+ students, and that the state Department of Public Instruction is largely powerless to stop it.

And he went to the press. "I didn’t want stuff like that to happen again," he said. "For people to feel backed into a corner and powerless in a situation, where, like, that just shouldn’t be the case." Werth’s story went viral. He got to meet Jennifer Lopez and speak with Sen. Tammy Baldwin.

And when he spoke about his experience, Werth urged Wisconsinites to demand their representatives change the law. "It’s not that I’m against school choice," Werth said. "It’s that everybody has human rights and that they should all be protected no matter what, especially the rights of kids who go to private and parochial (voucher) schools in Wisconsin."

There is no state law protecting LGBTQ+ students from discrimination once enrolled in a voucher school. And the federal Title IX law exempts religious institutions from complying with the anti-discrimination law if it runs counter to their religious beliefs.

This leaves religious voucher schools like Sheboygan Lutheran free to discipline or even expel gay or transgender students for expressing their gender identity or their sexual orientation. A Wisconsin Watch investigation has found that many have policies that allow such treatment.

Wisconsin Watch reviewed public materials for about one-third of the state’s 373 voucher schools and found that four out of 10 had policies or statements that appeared to target LGBTQ+ students for disparate treatment.

Some had explicitly discriminatory policies, such as expelling students for being gay or transgender. All 50 of the voucher schools with anti-LGBTQ+ stances identified by the news organization are Christian, with denominations including Lutherans and Catholics, among others.

Almost every school cites religious principles as a basis for their positions.

Feel free to contact us with questions and/or comments.