Meanwhile, the Wisconsin Supreme Court is considering challenges to laws that allow public health authorities to close schools to prevent the spread of contagious disease. In September, the court blocked a Public Health Madison & Dane County order requiring schools to delay in-person classes and has more recently blocked a similar health department order in Racine.
Both agencies were sued by the right-wing Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL), which has also challenged repeated emergency declarations due to the pandemic and the statewide mask order.
Lawmakers and others who are pushing to require in-person schooling claim that the danger is minimal. “The scientific evidence has become increasingly clear that it is safe to reopen schools, yet many districts still don’t offer in-person instruction,” WILL states in a December blog post that endorsed Republican proposals to punish school districts that teach virtually.