Department of Public Instruction denied legal help (UPDATE)

Gov. Scott Walker has rejected a request to allow the agency to hire outside counsel in the case. That comes after the Department of Justice dropped DPI as a client in the lawsuit by St. Augustine School in Hartford. State law provides for private school transportation, but only to one school per religious denomination in a particular area. That left St. Augustine without transportation. So the school and parents are suing.

According to the lawsuit, the school and parents allege the DPI and Freiss Lake School Distrtict are denying the parents’ First Amendment rights and are violating their right to exercise religion by not providing transportation for the children to get to school.

Parents appealed to the DPI when Freiss Lake would not provide transportation because their children live in the attendance area of another Catholic school, but DPI sided with the school district in March.

State Superintendent Tony Evers said that the Department of Justice dropped his department with little explanation.

“I think this is the first time in my history that the attorney general decided not to support us in a case,” Evers said. “When the former attorney general (J.B. Van Hollen) was here, I know he took cases that politically didn’t work well for him, but he always took them, he always represented us. This kind of treatment is beyond the pale, frankly.”

Justice spokesman Johnny Koremenos said Tuesday that their attorneys are not representing DPI “because the DOJ believes that DPI does not have a legally defensible position in the case.” Koremenos said different representation was appropriate.

DPI attorneys are not allowed to argue cases in the Eastern District, where the lawsuit is filed. DPI spokesman Tom McCarthy tells the State Journal (http://bit.ly/1Uxrc6z ) they have since made a special request to do so.

McCarthy said he learned of the governor’s decision Wednesday.