RACINE, Wis. – If the Racine Unified School District had its way, students participating in the voucher program would be walking to school in sub-zero temperatures.

The eastern Wisconsin school district is reacting to the growing number of students in the Racine Parental Choice Program by canceling their bus service, which the Wisconsin Institute of Law and Liberty says is “a blatant violation of state law.”

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State law requires school districts to provide transportation for any student whose school is 2 or more miles from the student’s house and less than 5 miles away from the district.

District administrators announced they would not longer transport children to Renaissance School, a private Lutheran school, effective March 2nd.

“Racine Unified is compromising the safety of school children even to the point of threatening to leave them on street corners in the middle of winter,” says CJ Szafir, WILL’s Education Policy Director, in a news release.

“They have an alleged dispute with Renaissance, but are taking it out on innocent children and parents.”

The predicted temperature in Racine tomorrow morning is -9°F, according to The Weather Channel.

WILL is representing over 25 parents seeking to take legal action against the school district.

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“With no warning, Racine Unified told us that they will stop busing. But, how is my son supposed to get to school?” says one of the parents, Shakela Johnson.

“They have yet to give me an explanation as to why this is happening.  It seems like we’re being punished because we chose to attend a school in the choice program.”

WILL reports the school district is “demanding” parents sign “one-sided contracts requiring parents to transport the children themselves.”

The law group attempted to negotiate with Racine Unified on behalf of the parents, but the district refused.

School leaders are now scrambling to continue meeting the needs of enrolled students.

Tiffany Venegas, principal of Renaissance Schools, says, “On very short notice, we’re now looking into using the few buses we have, planning routes to pick up these children and hiring additional drivers.  The actions of RUSD have brought a great deal of uncertainty, in the middle of the school year.”

WILL says it is ready to protect the legal rights of the children and parents to ensure that the Racine district doesn’t violate state law and leave the students out in the cold – literally.

Racine school leaders have made their opinions known of the choice program – and parents in particular – in the past.

Former superintendent Ann Laing said in 2011, referring to black parents, “They don’t know how to make good choices for their children. They really don’t. They didn’t have parents who made good choices for them or help them learn how to make good choices, so they don’t know how to do that.”