Note: Please read the following information. Specific steps for filing the form are at the end of this section.

Key Points to Keep In Mind

Beginning in September, 2010, to save money, the DPI is switching from paper PI-1206 forms to an electronic version that homeschoolers file online for the 2010-2011 school year. The DPI plans to have the new forms on its Web site by September 1. Before filing your form, please consider the following.

WPA has been informed by the DPI that in order to save money, the DPI will be switching from paper PI-1206 forms to an electronic version that homeschoolers file online beginning this August with forms for the 2010-2011 school year. This change requires new procedures and raises concerns about protecting homeschoolers’ privacy. The WPA Board has discussed the issues involved, and a WPA representative has gathered the following information from the DPI.

Summary: Recent Wisconsin legislation on virtual charter schools required the Legislative Audit Bureau (LAB) to audit these schools. The audit report published in February 2010 is long and detailed. But close inspection reveals that it is based on unsubstantiated information provided by the schools themselves, which obviously have a vested interest in the report’s findings. Because independently verifiable information to confirm or correct the schools’ claims is not available, the report is of questionable value. This serious problem should be addressed by the Legislature when it makes decisions based on this report concerning the future of these schools.

Wisconsin legislation to make completion of kindergarten a prerequisite for attending first grade in a public school has beenpassed by the Legislature and signed by the Governor. WPA opposed this legislation and is disappointed in its passage. Fortunately, two important amendments that WPA worked to get were included in the final bill. First, school districts are required to allow children who meet the district’s requirements to be exempted from kindergarten. Second, a provision has been removed from the original legislation that requires that children demonstrate “the social, emotional, and cognitive skills necessary for admission to the first grade.”

The law is poorly written. It does not state when provisions for charging children enrolled in kindergarten with truancy go into effect. The provisions are being applied arbitrarily by districts.

• Preschool screening is not legally required, even though officials often give the impression that it is.

• Preschool screening is highly subjective. It does not provide accurate scientific results that can be relied on.

• The more children who are labeled as having problems, the more professionals benefit through increased budgets, job security, and prestige. Among those who benefit are test givers, so-called experts in child development, politicians, government officials, teachers, school districts, social workers, psychologists, psychiatrists, family and juvenile court judges, researchers, corporations, and the pharmaceutical industry.

. This increases the likelihood that increasing numbers of children will be labeled as having learning, social, developmental, and other problems.

• The effects of labeling can last a lifetime, undermining confidence and strength of character.

• Unless it’s obvious that children have a serious problem, they should probably not be screened. The risks of inaccurate and harmful labeling are too great.

• For more information, see Why Children Are Not For Screening, Increased Mental Health Screening? Are You Crazy!?!, Let's Not Institutionalize 3, 4, and 5 Year Olds, and WPA resolution #49. Importance of Parents to Children's Development and Learning and a Family's Well Being.

• Young children develop, grow, and learn best when cared for by someone to whom they are attached, preferably their mother, sometimes their father or another adult. Children’s need for this continuity persists even when parents need or want to be away.

• Economic realities pressure many parents to believe that day care and preschool are good for children,

• Teachers, other professionals, day care centers, preschools, and many others have a vested interest in saying repeatedly that day care and preschool experiences are good for children.

• Day care and preschool can have serious, long-term effects. Here is the conclusion of one study of universal child care: “Finally, we uncover striking evidence that children [who were cared for at young ages through state supported childcare] are worse off in a variety of behavioral and health dimensions, ranging from aggression to motor-social skills to illness. Our analysis also suggests that the new childcare program led to more hostile, less consistent parenting, worse parental health, and lower-quality parental relationships.” Michael Baker, Jonathan Gruber, and Kevin Milligan. “Universal childcare, maternal labor supply, and family well-being" NBER Working Paper No. 11832, 2005. http://www.nber.org/papers/w11832

• For more information, see Why Children Are Not For Screening, Why Professionals and Politicians Are Wrong About Preschool and What We Can Do About It, Increased Mental Health Screening? Are You Crazy!?!, Let's Not Institutionalize 3, 4, and 5 Year Olds, Testimony on Five-Year Old Kindergarten, and WPA resolution #49. Importance of Parents to Children's Development and Learning and a Family's Well Being.

Stand up for parental rights and responsibilities and oppose increased preschool, screening, universal childcare, and home visitations.