Lawsuit: Does Wisconsin's open enrollment program violate disability law?

MADISON (AP) — Three families of children with disabilities are challenging Wisconsin's law that allows students to open enroll at schools outside their home district, saying it violates federal disability law.

The families are represented by the conservative group the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty. The group announced on Wednesday that it had filed the lawsuit Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Madison.

The lawsuit alleges that Wisconsin's open enrollment program is unlawful because it allows schools to create separate processes for accepting students with disabilities and those without.

The case was filed against state Superintendent Tony Evers, the state Department of Public Instruction and the Elkhorn, Greendale and Muskego-Norway school districts.

Evers' spokesman John Johnson says DPI's budget proposal would improve access to open enrollment for students with disabilities.