Because 48 percent of the 30,000 students subject to Learnfare sanc4tions live in Milwaukee County, the program’s fate there could affect debate next year on Gov. Tommy G. Thompson’s proposal to apply the program to all school-age children in families receiving welfare. It now applies only to 13- to 19-year-olds.
But state officials say the ruling is not an indictment of Learnfare sanctions.
The injunction “did not address in any way the policy underpinnings or the substance of the program,” said Waltraud A. Arts, an assistant attorney general.
In a news release following the audit report, Patricia A. Goodrich, secretary of health and social services, faulted poor record-keeping by the Milwaukee schools.
“The answer is not to put Learnfare out to pasture but to get Milwaukee’s public schools back in the harness,” she said.
