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.