Top Ranked Wisconsin School Shut Down Because Too Many White Students Were Enrolled

Wauwatosa STEM (WSTEM) school is being shuttered even though it's the fifth-highest-ranked elementary school in the state—out of 1,200. Internal documents show Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) killed the school—it had too many white students enrolled. Now a federal complaint has been filed against the district for alleged violations of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and a former school board member is speaking out.

Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty (WILL) filed the complaint with the Education Department's Office of Civil Rights in December 2024. The complaint alleges the elementary charter school was closed "because the racial makeup of the STEM-focused student body does not match the overall racial makeup of students attending the Wauwatosa School District"—in other words, there were too many white kids. According to WILL, their complaint is pending with the Trump administration, and they're awaiting an update.

WSTEM is not only a high-performing school, but also highly desired. There were 418 applicants in the 2023–24 school year with acceptance of 133 students chosen by lottery. A school board task force review of the program stated, "a concern with the specialty school and programming options is that the racial demographic makeup of the student population is not as diverse as the overall district." Documents also reveal a key measure of the school's success was whether "student applicants mirrors the diversity of the district for student groups that have been historically marginalized."

One of the strategic objectives of the school district task force was to increase representation of students and staff members based on their color, sexual preference, gender identity, and "varied religious, atheist, and agnostic identities." They were also seeking representation of students and staff outside their district with varied immigration and citizenship status, claiming an open enrollment program would add diversity. Apparently, their own district enrollment was filled with too many white, Christian, straight, American citizens.

Restoration News spoke to a parent of a student enrolled at WSTEM and she touted the success of the charter school. Even though it has larger class sizes than other elementary schools, it is still able to outperform the others and therefore is a "better bang for the district's buck," the parent told me.

Not only did the school board vote to end the contract for the WSTEM program, but at the same meeting they voted to oppose actions of the state legislature. The board claimed the "Wisconsin legislature has encroached on the statutory authority of school boards and districts." This vote came just weeks after the state legislature voted to provide a better state funding method for charter schools.

Not only is this a racial issue, but also a political power play. The board wants unlimited control even if it means violating the constitution.

Lone School Board Member Fights Back

Wauwatosa is a small school district of less than 7,000 students on the outskirts of Milwaukee and its school board is no stranger to legal controversy. In September 2022, a former school board member, Michael Meier, sued his own board for repeated violations of open meeting laws. The board allegedly improperly discussed public issues in closed session, held a secret policy committee meeting, and set up a private Google Docs file to conduct business outside the public eye.

After a circuit court judge granted a partial summary judgment to Meier, the school board, facing additional threats of legal action for First Amendment violations and ADA prohibited retaliation, settled with him for $132,500.

Restoration News spoke to Meier, a practicing attorney and children's advocate listed as a witness against the Wauwatosa school district in WILL's civil rights complaint. He served on the board for 21 years and has deep concerns about issues happening in the district that are harming all children. Meier said, "If racial proportions aren't what they [the district] wants, they cut the program." For example, in addition to the elimination of WSTEM, some advanced courses were eliminated, and suspensions and expulsions were reduced when racial proportions did not align with the proportions of the overall student populations. The correlation with arbitrary race-based objectives is clear and consistent over time according to Meier.  

One question Meier asked himself when facing issues on the board was, "Is this a child issue or an adult issue?" He strived to do what was best for the children, not the adults seeking to achieve political goals.

The board was also under scrutiny when their new chief financial officer discovered the district spent nearly $8 million more than what was approved in the budget. He also found a $4.2 million budget error. Despite this financial mismanagement, voters approved referendums providing the district with over $113 million for capital and operational funding in 2024.

The board members who voted to close the WSTEM school, effective June 2026, were all supported by the Wisconsin teachers' union (WEAC). The same union that supported a lawsuit against charter schools in 2023. WEAC also advocates for "racial equity" and social justice, asserting there is systemic racism in schools. In 2024, they recruited "equity ambassadors" to work in public schools. WEAC claims "policies and practices monitor and punish black and brown students in schools while ensuring schools with mostly white students are well resourced." There is no evidence these statements are true, yet the teachers' union endorsed Wauwatosa school board members abide by the direction of their union overlords. How many union-led racist equity ambassadors are there across public schools in Wisconsin?

It takes strong leaders like Michael Meier to stand up to discrimination and fight back for all students. While he is no longer on the school board, he still works to advocate for children in need. The nation needs more school board members like Meier whose focus is on kids, not discriminatory political agendas.

(READ MORE: Trump Takes Action to Undo Obama and Biden's School Discipline Chaos)