WISCONSIN
Census Problems
A number of Home School Legal Defense Association members throughout Wisconsin received letters from the local school district requesting the birthdates and gender of children between 0 and 19 years of age living in their household. Many of the letters were signed by an attendance officer, which make them somewhat intimidating. HSLDA Attorney Christopher Klicka contacted some of these attendance officers and explained that this information was not required by either the home school law or the school census laws, since the school census is not mandatory in the state of Wisconsin. The attendance officers admitted that it was not mandatory, but explained that every year they are required to attempt to gather the information and provide a census report to the department of education. HSLDA recommends that members politely decline to send in this information.
Wisconsin is one of 41 states in the country where the school districts are required to perform a periodic census and gather certain information, but citizens are not required to respond. HSLDA has always recommended that families in these states not respond, since school district funds are based on the census head-count.
