The bill changes the rate at which the state reimburses school boards, operators
of independent charter schools, cooperative educational service agencies (CESA),
and county children with disabilities education boards for costs incurred to provide
special education and related services to children with disabilities and for school age
parents programs (eligible costs). Under current law, the full cost of special
education for children in hospitals and convalescent homes for orthopedically
disabled children is reimbursed. After those costs are paid, the remaining eligible
costs are reimbursed from the amount remaining in the appropriation account at a
rate that distributes the full amount appropriated. DPI estimates that, in the
2020-21 school year, the reimbursement rate is about 28 percent.
The bill changes the appropriation to a sum sufficient and provides that, after
full payment of hospital and convalescent home costs, the remaining eligible costs
are reimbursed at the following rates:
1. In the 2021-22 school year, 45 percent of eligible costs.
2. In the 2022-23 school year and in each school year thereafter, 50 percent of
eligible costs.
Currently, DPI provides 1) special education aid to school districts, independent
charter schools, CESAs, and CCDEBs; 2) aid to school districts, CESAs, and
CCDEBs for providing physical or mental health treatment services to private school
and tribal school pupils; and 3) aid for school age parent programs to school districts
only.
Per pupil aid
Under current law, per pupil aid is a categorical aid paid to school districts. Per
pupil aid is funded from a sum sufficient appropriation and is not considered for
purposes of revenue limits. Under current law, the amount of per pupil aid paid to
a school district is calculated using a three-year average of the number of pupils
enrolled in the school district and a per pupil amount set by law. In the 2020-21
school year, the per pupil amount is $742. Under the bill, the per pupil amount is
increased to $750 in the 2021-22 school year and each year thereafter.
In addition, beginning in the 2021-22 school year, the bill requires DPI to pay
a second amount of per pupil aid to school districts that is based on the number of
economically disadvantaged pupils enrolled in a school district. Under the bill,
beginning in the 2021-22 school year, in addition to the base amount of per pupil aid,
DPI must also pay a school district $75 for each economically disadvantaged pupil
enrolled in the school district in the previous year. However, in calculating this
amount for the 2021-22 and 2022-23 school years, DPI must use the number of
economically disadvantaged pupils enrolled in a school district in the 2019-20 school
year instead of in the previous school year. Under the bill, an economically
disadvantaged pupil is a pupil who satisfies either the income eligibility criteria for
a free or reduced-price lunch under federal law or other measures of poverty, as
determined by DPI.
Supplemental per pupil aid
The bill eliminates supplemental per pupil aid, which was created under
2019
Wisconsin Act 9, the 2019 biennial budget.
Sparsity aid
The bill extends sparsity aid to school districts with a membership of more than
745 pupils.
Under current law, a school district is eligible for sparsity aid in the amount of
$400 per pupil if the school district's membership in the previous school year did not
exceed 745 pupils and the number of pupils per square mile in the school district is
less than 10. Current law also provides that a school district that was eligible to
receive sparsity aid in the previous school year but is not eligible to receive sparsity
aid in the current school year because the school district's membership exceeds 745
pupils in the current school year is eligible to receive up to 50 percent of the amount
of sparsity aid the school district received in the previous school year.
Under the bill, beginning in the 2021-22 school year, a school district with the
same density of pupils per square mile, i.e., less than 10, and a membership that
exceeds 745 pupils is eligible for sparsity aid in the amount of $100 per pupil. The
bill also provides that, beginning in the 2021-22 school year, a school district that is
ineligible for sparsity aid because it no longer satisfies the pupils-per-square-mile
requirement may receive 50 percent of the amount of sparsity aid the school district
received in the previous school year.
Limited-English proficient pupils; categorical aid
The bill changes the way that state categorical aid for educating
limited-English proficient pupils (LEP) is allocated.
Under current law, a school board is required to provide a bilingual-bicultural
education program to LEP pupils who attend a school in the school district if the
school meets any of the following thresholds:
1. Within a language group, 10 or more LEP pupils are enrolled in kindergarten
to grade three.
2. Within a language group, 20 or more LEP pupils are enrolled in grades four
to eight.
3. Within a language group, 20 or more LEP pupils are enrolled in grades nine
to 12.
All school boards are required to educate all LEP pupils, but only school boards
that are required to provide bilingual-bicultural education programs are eligible
under current law for categorical aid targeted toward educating LEP pupils.
Under current law, in each school year, DPI distributes $250,000 among eligible
school districts whose enrollments in the previous school year were at least 15
percent LEP pupils, and DPI distributes the amount remaining in the appropriation
account to eligible school districts on the basis of the school districts' expenditures
on the required bilingual-bicultural education programs during the prior school
year.
The bill expands eligibility for categorical aid to independent charter schools
and eliminates the limitation that only school boards that are required to provide
bilingual-bicultural education programs are eligible for categorical aid. Under the
bill, beginning in the 2022-23 school year, a school board that had at least one LEP
pupil enrolled in the school district in the prior school year, and the operator of an
independent charter school that had at least one LEP pupil attending the charter
school in the prior school year, receives $10,000. In addition, if the school board or
operator had more than 20 LEP pupils, the school board or operator receives an
additional $500 per LEP pupil above 20.
The bill also provides a temporary hold harmless provision for a school board
that would receive less categorical aid under the new funding scheme:
1. In the 2022-23 school year, a school board receives the greater of a) the
amount to which the school board is entitled under the new funding scheme, or b) an
amount equal to the amount of categorical aid the school board received in the
2020-21 school year.
2. In the 2023-24 school year, a school board receives the amount to which the
school board is entitled under the new funding scheme. In addition, if that amount
is less than the amount the school board received in the 2020-21 school year, the
school board also receives an amount equal to 50 percent of the difference between
the amount to which the school board is entitled under the new funding scheme and
the amount the school board received in the 2020-21 school year.
If, in any fiscal year, there are insufficient funds to provide the total categorical
aid amount, DPI must prorate the payments.
Capacity-building grants to increase licensure of bilingual teachers and
English as a second language teachers
The bill creates a grant program under which DPI may award grants, in
amounts determined by DPI, to school districts and independent charter schools to
provide support and financial assistance to their staff and teachers in obtaining
licensure or certification as bilingual teachers and teachers of English as a second
language.
Aid for pupil transportation
The bill increases the reimbursement rate to school districts and independent
charter school operators, beginning in the 2021-22 school year, for transporting a
pupil who lives more than 12 miles from the school the pupil attends from $365 per
school year to $375 per school year. Under current law, a school district that provides
transportation to pupils to and from summer classes may be reimbursed for certain
transportation costs, but, if a pupil is transported fewer than 30 days, that aid is
proportionately reduced. The bill eliminates the requirement that DPI reduce the
amount of state aid a school district receives for transporting a pupil if the pupil is
transported fewer than 30 days.
High cost transportation aid
Under current law, a school district that qualified for high cost transportation
aid in the previous school year but did not qualify in the current school year is eligible
to receive aid equal to 50 percent of the high cost transportation aid the school district
received in the previous school year, commonly called a “stop-gap” payment.
However, current law provides that, if the total amount of stop-gap payments to all
school districts in a school year exceeds $200,000, DPI must prorate the payments.
The bill eliminates that cap and instead provides that, if the total amount of high cost
transportation aid, including stop-gap payments, for a school year exceeds the
amount appropriated for high cost transportation aid for the school year, all high cost
transportation aid must be prorated.
School mental health and pupil wellness; categorical aid
The bill changes the types of expenditures that are eligible for reimbursement
under the state categorical aid program related to pupil mental health.
Under current law, DPI must make payments to school districts, independent
charter schools, and private schools participating in parental choice programs (local
education agency) that increased the amount they spent to employ, hire, or retain
social workers. 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 in the preceding school year over the
amount it expended in the school year immediately preceding the preceding school
year. If, after making those payments, there is money remaining in the
appropriation account for that aid program, DPI makes additional payments to
eligible local education agencies. The amount of those additional payments is
determined on the basis of the amount remaining in the appropriation account and
the amount spent by eligible local education agencies to employ, hire, and retain
social workers during the previous school year.
The bill expands eligibility for the payments under the aid program to include
spending on school counselors, school social workers, school psychologists, and
school nurses (pupil services professionals). The bill also eliminates the two tier
reimbursement structure of the aid program and eliminates the requirement that a
local education agency is eligible for the aid only if the local education agency
increased its spending. Under the bill, any local education agency that made
expenditures to employ, hire, or retain pupil services professionals during the
previous school year is eligible for reimbursement under the aid program.
School-based mental health services grants
Under current law, DPI must administer a competitive grant program under
which it awards grants to school boards and independent charter schools for the
purpose of collaborating with community mental health agencies to provide mental
health services to pupils. Under the bill, the purpose of these grants is to collaborate
with mental health providers, as opposed to community mental health agencies, to
to provide mental health services to pupils.
Supplemental nutrition aid
The bill creates a categorical aid to reimburse educational agencies for the
difference between the federal reimbursement rate for a free school meal and a
reduced-price school meal provided that the educational agency does not charge
pupils for a reduced-price meal. The bill defines a “school meal” as a school lunch
or snack under the federal school lunch program and a breakfast under the federal
school breakfast program and an “educational agency” as a school board, an operator
of independent charter school, 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, an operator of residential care centers for children
and youth, a tribal school, or a private school.
School breakfast program
The bill expands eligibility 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. The 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.
Driver education; state aid
The bill creates a new aid program for driver schools and for school boards,
independent charter schools, and CESAs that offer a driver education program to
pupils who meet the income eligibility standard for a free or reduced-price lunch in
the federal school lunch program. To be eligible for this aid, a driver school, school
board, independent charter school, or CESA must demonstrate to DPI that it waived
at least one-half of its program participation fees for eligible pupils. Under the bill,
DPI pays the driver school, school board, operator of the independent charter school,
or CESA an amount equal to one-half of its program participation fee multiplied by
the number of eligible pupils who completed the driver education program in the
previous school year.
Out-of-school time program grants
The bill creates a grant program under which DPI must award grants to school
boards and organizations to support high-quality after-school programs and other
out-of-school time programs that provide services to school-age children. DPI must
award grants in amounts of not less than $80,000 and not more than $145,000 per
school year, and each grant may continue up to five school years. In each school year,
DPI must award not less than 30 percent of all grant moneys to out-of-school time
programs that serve pupils in the elementary grades.
Computer science licensure grant program
Beginning in the 2022-23 school year, the bill requires DPI to award grants to
school districts to assist licensed school district employees in obtaining additional
licensure that authorizes the employee to teach computer science in public schools.
For purposes of awarding these grants, the bill requires DPI to prioritize school
districts if 50 percent of the school district's membership is low income or 40 percent
of the school district's membership identify as a minority.
Energy efficiency grant program
The bill creates a grant program under which DPI must award grants to school
districts for energy efficiency projects in school buildings. For the first two school
years of the grant program, DPI must give preference in awarding grants to projects
that relate to heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems. DPI, in
consultation with the Office of Environmental Justice, may promulgate rules to
implement the grant program.
Primary and secondary education: choice, charter, and open enrollment
Parental choice program caps
The 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 2021-22 school
year. Under the bill, beginning in the 2022-23 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, subject to
certain admission preferences that exist under current law.
Under current law, pupils may submit applications to attend a private school
under the statewide parental choice program for the following school year from the
first weekday in February to the third Thursday in April, and a private school that
receives applications must, no later than the first weekday in May immediately
following the application period, report the number of applicants to DPI so that DPI
may determine whether a pupil participation limitation has been exceeded. The bill
provides that, beginning with applications for the 2022-23 school year, DPI must
establish one or more application periods during which pupils may submit
applications to attend a private school under the MPCP or RPCP. The bill provides
that a private school that receives applications during an application period must,
no later than 10 days after the application period ends, report the number of
applicants to DPI so that DPI may determine whether a program cap has been
exceeded. The bill does not change the application period for the statewide parental
choice program and requires DPI to use the information required to be reported
under current law to determine whether the program cap for the statewide parental
choice program has been exceeded.
The bill also requires DPI to establish a waiting list for a parental choice
program if the program cap for the parental choice program has been exceeded.
Current law specifies that a pupil who moves to Racine or Milwaukee from
somewhere else in the state after being accepted into the statewide parental choice
program is not counted for purposes of determining whether a school district
exceeded its pupil participation limit. The bill provides that such a pupil also is not
counted for purposes of determining whether a program cap for a parental choice
program has been exceeded. The bill also requires DPI to promulgate rules
consistent with those current law pupil counting provisions to ensure that, if a pupil
who is accepted to attend a private school under a parental choice program changes
the pupil's residence, the pupil will not be counted for purposes of determining
whether the pupil participation limit or program cap that applies to the pupil's new
residence has been exceeded. In other words, the rules would address situations in
which a pupil moves 1) from Racine to Milwaukee or somewhere else in the state; or
2) from Milwaukee to Racine or somewhere else in the state.
Special Needs Scholarship Program cap
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 Special
Needs Scholarship Program (SNSP). The bill caps the total number of children who
may receive an SNSP scholarship at the number of children who received an SNSP
scholarship in the 2021-22 school year. Under the bill, beginning in the 2022-23
school year, if the number of applications for SNSP scholarships exceeds the program
cap, DPI must determine which applications to accept on a random basis, subject to
certain admission preferences set forth in the bill.
Under current law, a child may apply for an SNSP scholarship at any time
during a school year and may begin attending the private school at any time during
the school year. The bill provides that, beginning with applications for the 2022-23
school year, children may submit applications for SNSP scholarships for the school
year from the first weekday in April to the first Thursday in June of the prior school
year, and a private school that receives applications for SNSP scholarships must, no
later than the third Thursday in June immediately following the application period,
report the names of applicants to DPI so that DPI may determine whether the
program cap has been exceeded. No later than 60 days after the end of the
application period, DPI must notify each applicant and each private school whether
the applicant has been awarded an SNSP scholarship.
The bill requires DPI to establish a waiting list if the program cap for the SNSP
has been exceeded. The bill allows a child receiving an SNSP scholarship to apply
during a school year to transfer from one participating private school to another.
Eliminating the Office of Educational Opportunity
The bill eliminates the Office of Educational Opportunity (OEO) as a charter
school authorizer. Under current law, a charter school may be authorized by a school
board, the director of the OEO, 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. The bill provides that,
beginning on the effective date of the bill, the OEO may not authorize any additional
charter schools. Under the bill, a charter school authorized by the OEO before the
effective date of the bill may continue to operate under its contract but may not renew
or extend the contract. The bill provides that, upon expiration of the contract, the
charter school may enter into a contract with any other authorizer to continue
operating as a charter school.
Payment indexing; parental choice programs, the Special Needs
Scholarship Program, independent charter schools, full-time open
enrollment program, and whole grade sharing agreements
Under current law, the per pupil payment amounts under the MPCP, the RPCP,
the statewide parental choice program, 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 2021-22
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 in the per member amount of per pupil aid paid to school
districts between the previous school year and the current school year, if any.
Per pupil payment and transfer amount based on actual costs; Special Needs
Scholarship Program and full-time Open Enrollment
2017 Wisconsin Act 59, the 2017 biennial budget, created a process that allows
the per pupil payment under the SNSP and the transfer amount for a child with a
disability in the full-time open enrollment program to be determined based on the
actual costs to educate the pupil in the previous school year, as reported by the
private school or the nonresident school district. The first SNSP payments and
full-time open enrollment transfer amounts based on the actual costs were paid in
the 2019-2020 school year.
The bill repeals the process for determining SNSP per pupil payments and
full-time open enrollment transfer amounts based on actual costs and reinstates the
per pupil payment amount under the SNSP and the full-time open enrollment
transfer amount for a child with a disability that existed prior to the 2017 biennial
budget. Under the bill, the SNSP per pupil amount and the full-time open
enrollment transfer amount for children with disabilities is the same for all pupils
and is determined by law. In the 2020-21 school year, the amount is $12,977.
Statewide and Racine parental choice programs; previous school year
attendance requirement
Under current law, a pupil must satisfy at least one of the following to be eligible
to participate in the statewide parental choice program or the RPCP: 1) the pupil was
enrolled in a public school in the previous school year; 2) the pupil was not enrolled
in school in the previous school year; 3) the pupil attended a private school in the
statewide parental choice program, RPCP, or MPCP in the previous school year; 4)
the pupil was on a waiting list to attend a private school in the statewide parental
choice program, RPCP, or MPCP in the previous school year; 5) the pupil attended
school in another state in the previous school year; or 6) the pupil is enrolling in
kindergarten, first grade, or ninth grade in the current school year.
For purposes of this requirement, the bill specifies that a pupil is “enrolled in
a public school in the previous school year” if 1) the pupil was counted in a school
district's membership count, which means the pupil was counted as being enrolled
in a school district on at least one of the count dates during the previous year, or
attended an independent charter school in the previous school year; and 2) the pupil
did not attend a private school during the previous school year.
Milwaukee Parental Choice Program; first class city school levy aid
Under current law, the estimated cost of the payments made to private schools
participating in the MPCP 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. The 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 the other state aid
reduction.
Teacher licensure in parental choice programs and in the Special Needs
Scholarship Program
With certain exceptions, the bill requires that, beginning on July 1, 2024,
teachers at private schools participating in a parental choice program or in the SNSP
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.
The bill provides an exception for a teacher who teaches only courses in
rabbinical studies. In addition, the bill provides a grace period for a teacher who has
been teaching for at least the five consecutive years immediately preceding July 1,
2024, which allows the teacher to apply for a temporary, nonrenewable waiver of the
licensure requirement. An applicant for a waiver must submit a plan for becoming
licensed as required under the bill.
Special Needs Scholarship Program; religious activity opt-out
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.
Special Needs Scholarship Program; requirement for schools to participate
in parental choice program
The bill provides that a private school that begins participating in the SNSP in
the 2022-23 school year or any school year thereafter may participate only if the
private school also participates in a parental choice program.
Transportation aid; full-time open enrollment and early college credit
programs
Under current law, a parent or guardian of a pupil attending a public school in
a nonresident school district under the full-time open enrollment program or of a
public or private high school pupil attending an institution of higher education under
the early college credit program may apply to DPI for reimbursement for the costs
of transporting the pupil to the nonresident school district or the institution of higher
education. Under current law, the reimbursements for transportation costs for both
the full-time open enrollment program and the early college credit program are
funded from a single sum certain, annual appropriation. Under the bill,
reimbursements for transportation costs related to each program are funded from
separate sum certain appropriations.
Annual charter school authorizer report
Under current law, a school board, the OEO, the City of Milwaukee, the
chancellor of an institution in the UW System, a technical college district board, the
county executive of Waukesha County, the college of Menominee Nation, and the Lac
Courte Oreilles Ojibwa community college may contract with a person to operate a
charter school. These entities are commonly referred to as charter school
authorizers.
Current law requires each charter school authorizer to annually submit to DPI
and the chief clerk of each house of the legislature a report that includes specific
information about each charter school authorized by the charter school authorizer,
services provided by the charter school authorizer, and the charter school
authorizer's operating costs. The bill eliminates this requirement.
Per pupil payment to independent charter schools authorized by a tribal
college
A charter school authorized by a charter school authorizer other than a school
board is commonly known as an independent charter school. Under current law, DPI
pays a different per pupil amount to an independent charter school authorized by a
tribal college than it pays to other independent charter schools.
Under current law, the per pupil payment to an independent charter school
authorized by a tribal college is based on the per pupil academic base funding the
federal Bureau of Indian Education provides to tribal schools under federal law. In
the 2020-21 school year, the per pupil amount paid to an independent charter school
authorized by a tribal college is $8,719. The per pupil amount paid to an independent
charter school authorized by an authorizer other than a tribal college is set by law.
In the 2020-21 school year, the per pupil payment amount to an independent charter
school authorized by an authorizer other than a tribal college is $9,165.
The bill eliminates the different per pupil amount paid to independent charter
schools authorized by a tribal college. Under the bill, beginning in the 2021-22
school year, DPI pays the same per pupil amount to all independent charter schools.
