Our Mission
WCRIS supports the unique missions of member schools through advocacy, education and partnerships, to ensure an extraordinary education and equitable opportunity for each child.
Who We Are
WCRIS is a non-profit, nonpartisan, 501(c)(3) membership association representing more than 100,000 K-12 students in 600 Catholic, Lutheran, Christian, Seventh Day Adventist, and independent schools across Wisconsin.
Early Wisconsin education was primarily private or religious. It brought mass schooling and literacy to the state well before the public school system was created.
WCRIS was founded as the Wisconsin Association of Nonpublic Schools (WANS) in 1974 by a group of Catholic, independent Christian and Lutheran school leaders who had first organized in the 1960s to advocate for equitable busing for private school students. In 2000, WANS was renamed to the Wisconsin Council of Religious and Independent Schools (WCRIS) to reaffirm the identity of the organization and define us by what we are — a membership organization that serves private schools — and not by what we are not (nonpublic).
WCRIS is Wisconsin’s chapter of the Council for American Private Education (CAPE), our national affiliate that monitors federal legislation and advocates on our behalf in Washington D.C.
What We Do
- Advocate for our schools’ participation in state and federal government programs and secure equitable access and full participation in those programs, when applicable.
- Our staff includes registered lobbyists exclusively for WCRIS. We defend WCRIS schools’ independence against burdensome regulations and new government mandates, while promoting equity and inclusion for our schools, students and staff in programs and initiatives funded with public resources.
- Promote the understanding of private school issues, support student rights and represent the special concerns of our teachers in areas of licensure and professional development.
- Host professional development events and publish comprehensive resources for private school administrators and teachers.
- Defend schools’ rights to pursue the unique mission of its individual charter and parents’ rights to select the best education for their child.
Core Values
WCRIS’ advocates and supports non-sectarian independent schools and faith-based schools in promoting and protecting our core values:
Educational Integrity
Ensuring that pupils at all schools have the resources they need to become productive, responsible and engaged members of society.
Equitable Opportunity for All Children
Parents have the right to select the educational path that best serves their child(ren). Public policy should affirm this and empower parents by providing them with the resources necessary to send their child(ren) to the school of their choice, regardless of their financial circumstances.
Supporting the Tradition of Independent School Missions
Private education has existed in the United States for over 500 years – 300 years earlier than the first public school was created. Private schools are an important part of our history and should be respected and supported for future generations to come.
Did You Know?
- About 10% of Wisconsin K-12 students attend private schools.
- The vast majority of private school students are enrolled in grades K-8 and graduate on to attend public high schools.
- WCRIS schools enroll over 80% of all private K-12 students in Wisconsin. (Those not in WCRIS include Amish, Mennonite, and other separatists groups.)
- WCRIS schools employ more than 6,000 teachers.
- If there were no private schools, Wisconsin state and local taxes would have to rise more than $1 billion annually to pay for the students’ education in public schools.
