Parental choice program caps
This bill caps the total number of pupils who may participate in the Milwaukee
Parental Choice Program, the Racine Parental Choice Program, or the statewide
parental choice program (parental choice program) at the number of pupils who
attended a private school under the parental choice program in the 2019-20 school
year. Under the bill, beginning in the 2020-21 school year, if the number of
applications to participate in a parental choice program exceeds the program cap,
DPI must determine which applications to accept on a random basis.
2. Teacher licensure in parental choice programs and the Special Needs
Scholarship Program
With certain exceptions, the bill requires that, beginning on July 1, 2022,
teachers at private schools participating in a parental choice program or in the
Special Needs Scholarship Program must hold a license or permit issued by DPI.
Under current law, teachers at choice schools must have at least a bachelor's degree
from a nationally or regionally accredited institution of higher education, but they
are not required to be licensed by DPI. There are no current law requirements
regarding who may teach at SNSP schools.
3. Accreditation in parental choice programs
The bill requires that a private school that begins participation in a parental
choice program in the 2021-22 school year or in any school year thereafter must be
accredited by August 1 of the school year in which the private school begins
participation in the parental choice program. Under current law, a private school
must do all of the following:
a. Obtain preaccreditation by a preaccrediting entity by August 1 (December
15 for new private schools) before the first school term in which the private school
begins participation in the parental choice program, or by May 1 if the private school
begins participating in the parental choice program during summer school.
b. Apply for accreditation by an accrediting entity by December 31 of the first
school year in which the private school begins participation in the parental choice
program.
c. Obtain accreditation by an accrediting entity by December 31 of the third
school year following the first school year in which the private school begins
participation in the parental choice program.
4. Changes to the Special Needs Scholarship Program
Under current law, a child with a disability who meets certain eligibility criteria
may receive a scholarship to attend a private school participating in the SNSP. This
bill makes the following changes to the SNSP:
a. The bill provides that, beginning in the 2020-21 school year, DPI may not
provide an SNSP scholarship to a child to attend a private school unless the child was
attending a private school under the SNSP in the 2019-20 school year. In addition,
if the child does not attend a private school under an SNSP scholarship in any school
year after the 2019-20 school year, DPI may not provide an SNSP scholarship to the
child for any subsequent school year.
b.
2017 Wisconsin Act 59, the 2017 biennial budget act, created a process that
allows the scholarship amount under the SNSP to be determined based on the actual
costs to educate the child in the previous school year, as reported by the private
school. The first SNSP scholarship payments based on the actual costs will be paid
in the 2019-20 school year based on the actual costs reported for the 2018-19 school
year. The bill eliminates the process for determining SNSP scholarships based on
actual costs and reinstates the scholarship amount under the SNSP that existed
prior to the 2017 biennial budget act. Under the bill, the SNSP scholarship amount
is the same for all pupils and is determined by law. For the 2018-19 school year, the
amount is $12,431.
c. The bill provides that, with certain exceptions explained below, a private
school participating in the SNSP may participate only if the private school also
participates in a parental choice program. Under current law, a private school may
participate in the SNSP if the private school is accredited or if the private school's
educational program meets certain criteria.
The bill provides that, if a private school that is participating in the SNSP in
the 2019-20 school year does not participate in a parental choice program, the
private school must, if the private school is not accredited by August 1, 2019, do all
of the following: i) obtain preaccreditation by August 1, 2020; ii) apply for
accreditation by December 31, 2020; and iii) obtain accreditation by December 31,
2023. In addition, a private school that does not participate in a parental choice
program must, after obtaining accreditation, comply with other requirements
relating to accreditation, including maintaining accreditation and providing
information to DPI regarding the private school's accreditation status. A private
school that meets the accreditation requirement may continue to participate under
that requirement for so long as the private school continuously participates in the
SNSP.
d. The bill provides that, beginning in the 2020-21 school year, a private school
participating in the SNSP may not charge a child receiving an SNSP scholarship
tuition, in addition to the payments the private school receives under the SNSP, if
i) the child is enrolled in a grade from kindergarten to eight; or ii) the child's family
income does not exceed 220 percent of the federal poverty line. The bill also provides
that, beginning in the 2020-21 school year, a private school participating in the
SNSP may recover reasonable fees from a child receiving an SNSP scholarship for
certain enumerated items and services the school provides to the child but may not
expel or discipline a child for failing to pay those fees.
e. The bill provides that a private school participating in the SNSP must allow
a child attending the private school under the SNSP to refrain from participating in
any religious activity if the child's parent submits to the child's teacher or the private
school's principal a written request that the child be exempt from such activities.
5. Authorization of new independent charter schools
This bill provides that, beginning on the effective date of the bill and ending on
July 1, 2023, an authorizer of an independent charter school generally may not enter
into a contract with a person to operate a charter school that was not operating on
the effective date of the bill. Under current law, an independent charter school may
be authorized by the director of the Office of Educational Opportunity in the UW
System, the common council of the city of Milwaukee, the chancellor of any
institution in the UW System, any technical college district board, the College of
Menominee Nation, the Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwa Community College, or the
county executive of Waukesha County.
6. Eliminate Open Enrollment transfer amount based on actual costs
This bill eliminates the process for determining a full-time Open Enrollment
transfer amount for a child with a disability based on the actual cost to educate the
child in the previous year and reinstates the OEP transfer amount for a child with
a disability that existed prior to the 2017 biennial budget act. Under the bill, the OEP
transfer amount for a child with disability is the same for all children and is
determined by law. In the 2018-19 school year, the amount is $12,431. This change
is similar to the elimination of the process for determining the SNSP scholarship
amount based on actual costs, as described in item 4.
2017 Wisconsin Act 59, the 2017 biennial budget act, created a process that
allows the transfer amount for a child with a disability in the full-time OEP to be
determined based on the actual costs to educate the child in the previous school year,
as reported by the nonresident school district. The maximum OEP transfer amount
based on actual costs is $30,000. Under current law, an OEP transfer amount based
on actual costs will first be transferred in the 2019-20 school year.
7. Payment Indexing: parental choice programs, the SNSP, independent
charter schools, full-time open enrollment program, and whole grade
sharing agreements
Under current law, the per pupil payment amounts under the parental choice
programs and the SNSP, the per pupil payment amount to independent charter
schools, the transfer amounts under the full-time open enrollment program, and the
required transfer amount for a child with a disability in a whole grade sharing
agreement (collectively, per pupil payments) are adjusted annually. The annual
adjustment for per pupil payments is an amount equal to the sum of any per member
revenue limit increase that applies to school districts in that school year and any per
member increase in categorical aids between the current school year and the
previous school year. Under the bill, beginning in the 2019-20 school year, the
annual adjustment for per pupil payments is the sum of the per member revenue
limit increase that applies to school districts in that school year, if any, and the
increase, if any, in the per member amount of per pupil aid paid to school districts
between the previous school year and the current school year.
8. The Early College Credit and Dual Enrollment Programs
This bill eliminates the Early College Credit Program. Under the ECCP, a high
school pupil, including a high school pupil attending a private school, may enroll in
an institution of higher education for the purpose of taking one or more courses to
earn high school credit or postsecondary credit or both. An institution of higher
education is defined to mean an institution within the UW System, a tribally
controlled college, or a private, nonprofit institution of higher education located in
this state. The cost of tuition for each course is divided among the state, the school
board of the pupil's school or the governing body of the private school the pupil
attends, and the pupil. The share that each responsible party pays is dependent on
whether the course is taken for high school credit or postsecondary credit and
whether a course similar to the course taken at the institution of higher education
is comparable to a course offered by the school district or private school.
The bill replaces the ECCP with a requirement that the UW System implement
a program to provide tuition-free courses to high school students.
See Higher
education.
This bill also eliminates a program under which high school students may take
courses at technical colleges. Under this program, a public school pupil who satisfies
certain criteria, including providing timely notice to the pupil's school district, may
apply to attend a technical college for the purpose of taking one or more courses. With
an exception, the technical college district board must admit the pupil to the
technical college if the pupil meets course prerequisites and there is space available
in the course. The pupil is eligible to receive both high school and technical college
credit for courses successfully completed at the technical college. If the course is not
comparable to courses offered in the school district, the school district must pay to
the technical college the pupil's tuition and fees for each course taken for high school
credit, and the pupil is not responsible for any portion of the tuition and fees for the
course.
The bill replaces this program with a requirement that the technical college
districts implement a program to provide tuition-free courses to high school
students. See Higher education.
9. Eliminate Opportunity Schools and Partnership Programs
This bill eliminates the Opportunity Schools and Partnership Programs.
Under current law, there are three OSPPs: a first class city OSPP applicable only to
Milwaukee Public Schools; the MPS superintendent of schools OSPP; and the OSPP
for certain eligible school districts. Current law provides that the first class city
OSPP and each eligible school district OSPP are under the supervision of a
commissioner appointed by the county executive of the county in which the school
district is located. Currently, under each OSPP, either the commissioner or the MPS
superintendent of schools grants supervision over the operation and general
management of each eligible school in the school district to an entity other than the
school board. Those entities include a person that operates a charter school and the
governing body of a nonsectarian private school participating in a parental choice
program. Under current law, an eligible school is a school that was assigned to the
lowest performance category on the most recent accountability report published for
the school.
10. Milwaukee Parental Choice Program state aid reduction
Under current law, the estimated cost of the payments made to private schools
participating in the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program is partially offset by two
reductions in the general school aid otherwise paid to the Milwaukee Public Schools.
For the 2010-11 school year and in each school year thereafter, one of the reductions
to MPS is an amount equal to 6.6 percent of the cost of payments made to private
schools participating in the MPCP. Current law requires DPI to pay an amount equal
to that reduction amount to the City of Milwaukee and requires the City of
Milwaukee to pay that amount to the board of school directors of MPS. This bill
eliminates the 6.6 percent aid reduction and the requirements that the reduction
amount be paid by DPI to the city and by the city to the board. The bill does not make
any changes to other state aid reduction. See Taxation—Property taxation.
Primary and secondary education: grant programs
Urban school districts; grant programs
This bill provides various grant opportunities for urban school districts. Under
the bill, an “urban school district” is a school district in which at least 18,000 pupils
were enrolled in the 2018-19 school year (Green Bay Area Public School District,
Madison Metropolitan School District, Milwaukee Public Schools, Kenosha Unified
School District, and Racine Unified School District) and, in future school years, any
other school district in which at least 18,000 pupils were enrolled in the previous
school year.
Early childhood education grants. This bill creates an annual grant program
under which DPI must award grants to urban school districts to develop, implement,
and administer new or expanded early childhood education programs to enhance
learning opportunities for young children residing in the urban school district and
to prepare those children for entry into the elementary grades. Under the grant
program, DPI must, with certain exceptions, award grants in the amount of $1,000
per eligible child who attends an urban school district's early childhood education
program in the current school year. An “eligible child” is a child who resides in the
urban school district and who is a) three years old on or before September 1 in the
relevant school year, or b) less than three years old but eligible to attend the early
childhood education program under the urban school district's early admission
standards.
Summer school grants. Under current law, DPI must award a grant to a first
class city school district (currently, only MPS) for the purpose of developing,
redesigning, or implementing a summer school program. This bill expands eligibility
for these summer school grants to include all urban school districts. Under the bill,
DPI must annually allocate $2,000,000 in summer school grant funding to MPS and
must allocate the remaining funding equally among the other urban school districts.
Grants for national teacher certification or master educator licensure. Under
current law, DPI awards annual grants of $5,000 each to an individual who is
certified by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards or licensed by
DPI as a master educator and who works in a high poverty school. This bill increases
the amount of these grants to $15,000, if the individual works at a high poverty
school located in an urban school district, and to $10,000, if the individual works at
a high poverty school located in a school district that is not an urban school district.
Community engagement grants. Under the bill, DPI must award grants to
urban school districts for the purpose of supporting projects that include
collaboration with a nonprofit corporation, a cooperative educational service agency,
a UW System institution, a technical college district board, or a local unit of
government and that are intended to improve academic achievement, the well-being
of pupils and their families, or relationships between pupils, school staff, and the
community.
Principal training grants. Under the bill, DPI must annually award a grant to
a nonprofit organization or an urban school district for the purpose of providing
training, coaching, and professional support to principals who work in urban school
districts.
2. Mental health programs; aid for pupil services professionals
Under current law, DPI must make payments to school districts, independent
charter schools, and private schools participating in a parental choice program that
increased the amount they spent to employ, hire, or retain social workers during the
two previous school years (eligible local education agency). Under current law, DPI
first pays each eligible local education agency 50 percent of the amount by which the
eligible local education agency increased its expenditures for social workers over the
previous two school years. If, after making these payments, there is money
remaining in the appropriation for this aid program, DPI makes additional
payments to eligible local education agencies. The amount of these additional
payments is determined based on the amount remaining in the appropriation and
the amount spent by eligible local education agencies to employ, hire, and retain
social workers during the previous school year.
This bill expands eligibility for the first round of payments under this aid
program to include increased spending on school counselors, school social workers,
school psychologists, or school nurses, or any combination thereof (pupil services
professionals), during the previous two school years. Additionally, the bill expands
eligibility for the second round of payments to any school district, independent
charter school, or private school participating in a parental choice program that
made expenditures to employ, hire, or retain pupil services professionals during the
previous school year. In other words, for the second round of payments, the bill
eliminates the requirement that a school district, independent charter school, or
private school increased its expenditures on pupil services professionals.
3. Mental health and school climates; training and grants
Under current law, DPI must provide training to school districts and
independent charter schools on three specific evidence-based strategies to address
student mental health: Screening, Brief Interventions, and Referral to Treatment;
Trauma Sensitive Schools; and Youth Mental Health First Aid. Under the bill, DPI
must provide training on mental health, school safety, and improving school climate,
including training on the three evidence-based strategies listed above. In addition,
the bill requires DPI to award grants to the Wisconsin Safe and Healthy Schools
Training and Technical Assistance Center, Wisconsin Family Ties, Inc., and the
Center for Suicide Awareness.
4. After-school program grants
This bill creates a grant program under which DPI must award grants to
support high-quality after-school programs and out-of-school-time programs to
organizations that provide services to school-age children.
5. Grants to support gifted and talented pupils
This bill changes the purposes for which DPI awards grants to support gifted
and talented pupils. Under current law, DPI must award the grants for the purpose
of providing services and activities to gifted and talented pupils that will allow the
pupils to fully develop their capabilities. Under the bill, DPI must award the grants
for the purposes of providing such services and activities to underrepresented gifted
and talented pupils, specifically gifted and talented pupils who are minority pupils,
economically disadvantaged pupils, children with disabilities, or LEP pupils; and for
providing teachers with professional development and training related to identifying
and educating all gifted and talented pupils.
6. Milwaukee mathematics partnership grant
Under this bill, beginning in the 2020-21 school year, DPI must award a grant
to the school board of a first class city school district (currently, only MPS) to develop
and implement a plan to improve mathematics instruction in the school district. The
bill requires the school board to work with UW-Milwaukee to develop and
implement the plan.
7. Grant program to recruit minority teachers
This bill creates a minority teacher grant program under which DPI awards
grants to school districts for the purpose of recruiting minorities to teach in the school
district. Under the bill, a minority is defined as a Black American, an American
Indian, an individual of any race whose ancestors originated in Mexico, Puerto Rico,
Cuba, Central America, or South America or whose culture or origin is Spanish, or
an individual admitted to the United States after December 31, 1975, who is either
a former citizen of Laos, Vietnam, or Cambodia or whose ancestor was or is a citizen
of Laos, Vietnam, or Cambodia. The bill requires DPI to award half of the moneys
appropriated for these grants to a first class city school district (currently, only MPS).
DPI must award the other half of the moneys appropriated for these grants to school
districts other than MPS and give a preference to school districts that have a high
percentage of minority pupils. Under the bill, this grant program replaces the
minority teacher loan program administered by HEAB. See Higher education.
8. Tribal language revitalization grants
Under current law, a school board, cooperative educational service agency, or
Head Start agency (applicant) may apply to DPI for a grant to support instruction
in one or more American Indian languages. Under this bill, beginning in the 2020-21
school year, an applicant also may apply to DPI for a two-year grant to develop,
implement, and provide American Indian heritage, language, and cultural
instruction programs for children participating in Head Start programs and for
pupils in grades kindergarten to two.
The bill also authorizes DPI to contract with the Great Lakes Inter-Tribal
Council, Inc., to implement and administer those grant programs.
9. Grants for water bottle filling stations
This bill requires DPI to award grants to school districts to purchase water
bottle filling stations that provide filtered drinking water.
10. Eliminate personal electronic computing devices grant program
The bill eliminates the personal electronic computing devices grant program
after the 2019-20 school year. Under the personal electronic devices grant program,
DPI awards grants to public, private, and tribal schools to purchase personal
electronic computing devices, software for personal electronic computing devices,
and curricula that is accessible on personal electronic computing devices. The grants
may also be used to train professional staff on the effective use of personal electronic
devices in an educational setting. For a grant awarded to a school district in the
2019-20 school year, the bill specifies that the grant amount is based on the number
of pupils enrolled in the school district in the current school year. Under current law,
a grant to a school district is calculated based on the school district's membership in
the previous school year.
11. Eliminate school performance improvement grants
This bill eliminates school performance improvement grants on July 1, 2020.
Under current law, beginning in the 2018-19 school year, DPI must award a school
performance improvement grant to an eligible school located in a first class city
school district (currently, only MPS) or in a school district that was in the lowest
category on the school and school district accountability report (report card) if the
eligible school develops a written school improvement plan to improve pupil
performance and receives a higher score on the report card than it did in the previous
school year.
12. Eliminate information technology education grants
This bill eliminates a grant program under which DPI awarded grants in the
2017-18 and 2018-19 school years to certain entities to provide information
technology education opportunities to public school pupils in grades 6 to 12, technical
college district students, and patrons of public libraries.
13. Transfer teacher development, training, and recruitment grant program
to DPI
Under current law, DWD must award the following grants:
a. Grants to nonprofit organizations that operate programs to recruit and
prepare individuals to teach in public or private schools located in low-income or
urban school districts in this state.
b. Grants to school boards, governing bodies of private schools, and charter
management organizations that have partnered with an educator preparation
program approved by DPI and headquartered in this state to design and implement
teacher development programs.
This bill combines the grant programs and transfers from DWD to DPI the
authority and obligation to award the grants. Under the combined grant program,
DPI may award grants only to school boards, governing bodies of private schools, and
charter management organizations.
14. Transfer career and technical education incentive grant and completion
award program to DPI
This bill transfers from DWD to DPI the authority and obligation to award
career and technical education (CTE) incentive grants and completion awards.
Under current law, DWD approves industry-recognized certification programs
designed to a) mitigate workforce shortages; and b) prepare individuals for
occupations as fire fighters, emergency medical responders, and emergency medical
services practitioners (public safety occupations). Currently, DWD must award CTE
incentive grants to school districts that have programs approved by DWD, and the
amount of each grant depends on the number of pupils who complete the school
district's programs. DWD also must award CTE completion awards to pupils for each
DWD-approved program the pupil completes that is related to public safety
occupations. The bill also transfers program approval authority from DWD to DPI.
15. Transfer technical education equipment grant program to DPI
This bill transfers from DWD to DPI the authority to award technical education
equipment grants to school districts for the acquisition of equipment that is used in
advanced manufacturing fields in the workplace.
16. Wisconsin Reading Corps grant
Under current law, DPI must, in the 2017-18 and 2018-19 school years,
distribute to Wisconsin Reading Corps to provide one-on-one tutoring to pupils all
amounts appropriated to DPI for that purpose. This bill requires DPI to continue
annually making the distribution to Wisconsin Reading Corps going forward.
17. Bullying prevention grants
This bill requires DPI to annually award a bullying prevention grant to the
nonprofit organization that received the grant in the 2017-18 and 2018-19 school
years.
18. Robotics league participation grants
This bill clarifies that DPI may award a robotics league participation grant to
an eligible team to participate in more than one robotics competition.
Primary and secondary education: other
Eliminate restriction on the number of school district referenda in a
calendar year
Under current law, if a school board wants to borrow money through a bond
issue or exceed the revenue limit otherwise applicable to the school district, the
school board must obtain the approval of the school district's electors at a
referendum. Under current law, a school board may submit a resolution to borrow
money or exceed the revenue limit to electors for approval or rejection no more than
two times in any calendar year. The bill eliminates that restriction.
2. Eliminate teacher licensure based on an alternative teacher certification
program
This bill eliminates the requirement that DPI issue an initial teaching license
to an individual who completes an alternative teacher certification program
operated by a provider that is a nonprofit organization and that meets all of the
following criteria: a) the organization operates in at least five states; b) the
organization has been operating an alternative teacher certification program for at
least ten years; and c) the organization requires candidates for certification to pass
a subject area exam and the pedagogy exam known as the Professional Teaching
Knowledge exam.
3. Teacher planning time
This bill requires school boards to provide teachers with at least 45 minutes or
the equivalent of one class period, whichever is longer, of paid planning time each
day.
4. School breakfast program
This bill expands who is eligible for reimbursement under the school breakfast
program to include operators of independent charter schools, the director of the
Wisconsin Educational Services Program for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, the
director of the Wisconsin Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired, and operators
of residential care centers for children and youth. This bill also prohibits DPI from
making reimbursements under the school breakfast program for breakfasts served
in the prior school year if the school ceased operations during the prior school year.
This prohibition does not apply to reimbursements to a school district.
