Transfer requests of 66 Madison students rejected because of race
10:41 PM 4/13/04
Doug Erickson Wisconsin State Journal

Dozens of Madison public school students are learning this month that their race can be the sole factor in whether they're allowed to transfer to another district under the state's open enrollment law. <

The Madison School District said Tuesday it has denied 65 open enrollment requests for next fall because the shift of those students - all of them white - would upset the racial balance at specific schools. <

The rule can apply to those seeking to transfer in, as well - one minority student was denied a transfer for the same reason. <

School officials say they are following a tenet of the state's open enrollment law intended to promote diversity and reduce segregation. But at least one Madison parent said the policy is discrimination. <

"This, to me, is the very definition of discrimination, because race is the only criteria," said Alicia Fisher of Madison, who is white and whose daughter's application was denied. <

The Fishers sought to enroll their 4-year-old daughter, Megan, in the Wisconsin Virtual Academy, a Web-based public school sponsored by the Northern Ozaukee School District. The virtual academy approved their application; the Madison School District denied it. <

Open enrollment allows students to attend any public school in the state regardless of their residency if space is available. However, state law instructs districts to reject any application for transfer into or out of a district if it would "increase racial imbalance." The law doesn't define racial imbalance. <

Clarence Sherrod, the Madison School District's legal counsel, said Madison administrators deny applications of white students wanting to transfer out of schools with minority populations of 40 percent or more. They also deny the requests of minority students wanting to transfer into those schools. The threshold is based on the district's overall student population, which is about 40 percent minority. <

The district also denies requests if they would increase the minority makeup of a school by more than 0.5 percent from one year to the next. This was the case with the Fishers and Orchard Ridge Elementary School. <

Eight minority students wanted to transfer in and Megan was the only white student wanting to transfer out, said Jeannie Retelle, district enrollment specialist. Megan's name was not drawn in a lottery that granted two of the nine requests. Most of the other requests by students seeking to transfer in were denied due to a lack of space, she said. <

Alicia Fisher said race played no role in the family's decision to apply for open enrollment - the virtual academy is simply the best fit academically for Megan. The family loves living in its racially diverse neighborhood, Fisher said, but ironically, they now feel they are being punished for it. <

"As we understand it, if we lived in a neighborhood with a lower minority population, our application would probably not have been denied," she said. <

The family is appealing to the state Department of Public Instruction, which can overturn district decisions if it finds them arbitrary or unreasonable. <

Madison Superintendent Art Rainwater said the district's policy and the state's law on racial imbalance make sound educational sense. <

"The philosophical underpinning is that you don't want to have racial isolation on either end of the scale," he said. "We live in a diverse world, and an important part of a good education is to learn to be a part of that diverse world." <

Contact Doug Erickson at derickson@madison.com or 252-6149. <