The application period for the 2021 Herb Kohl Educational Awards for students, teachers and principals is now open. Like last year, the process is entirely digital and must be completed online. Current private high school seniors, who are Wisconsin residents, are eligible to apply for a $10,000 Student Excellence scholarship to the college of their [...]
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Current Events
A library of WCRIS weekly E-letters that keeps you updated on issues of concern to private schools
Pandemic Prompts DPI to Provide Flexibility in Regulations
September 03, 2020
The Department of Public Instruction (DPI) released a guidance document outlining ways it is responding to regulatory enforcement in the era of COVID-19. The document, “COVID-19 Regulatory Flexibility Framework Provisions for the 2020-21 School Year,” is mainly for public schools. The DPI has said it will try to mirror those same flexibilities for private schools, [...]
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WCRIS Sues Dane County to Keep Private Schools Open; Statewide Implications?
August 27, 2020
A last-minute Dane County order to close schools leaves WCRIS and parents no choice but to sue. On behalf of WCRIS’s schools, the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL) filed a lawsuit with the Wisconsin Supreme Court over the Dane County Health Department’s August 21 order closing all public and private schools, for grades [...]
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MPS Denies Busing to Private Schools
August 27, 2020
Milwaukee Public Schools pulls busing for private school students, as the first day of school approaches. In an August 24 letter, Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) notified private schools that they would not receive transportation services nor reimbursement for parent contracts. The notice came just as many private schools in MPS are starting the school year [...]
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WILL Files Amicus in Lawsuit Over CARES Act
August 27, 2020
A third lawsuit challenging the ESSER funding formula is underway, with WCRIS and allies nationwide joining the fight. The funding impact on Wisconsin Schools hangs in the balance. On behalf of WCRIS, and its counterparts nationwide, the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL) filed an amicus brief (Friend of the Court brief) in NAACP [...]
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District’s Busing Obligation if They’re Virtual and You’re Not
August 20, 2020
Question: Regarding the statutes for busing, must the school district provide transportation regardless of the public school mode of education? Is it true that we could expect them to bus our students before the public school sessions start? For example, we start a week before the public school district begins. Answer: Yes, the district must [...]
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Wisconsin Shares Can Be Used During the Day
August 20, 2020
The Department of Children and Families (DCF) is addressing a pandemic-triggered need for child care for school-age children when schools are not having in-person classes. Traditionally, Wisconsin Shares for school-aged children provides payment for services before or after the school day but not during the school day. But for the 2020-21 school year, The Department [...]
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ESSER Funded Programs & Services for Private Schools
August 13, 2020
The DPI issued a list on August 12 of items it will be financing using “set aside” funds from the state’s ESSER pandemic relief money provided by Congress. Be aware, these “set-aside” funded items are in addition to individual programming and services private schools should get from their local public school district. There are 12 [...]
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DPI Promises Regulatory Flexibility for Choice Schools
August 13, 2020
State Superintendent Carolyn Stanford Taylor announced the following: “To the maximum extent allowed by law, DPI will hold independent charter and private choice schools to the same standard as school districts for their September 2020 counts.” To that end, the DPI has developed a Pupil Count Dates guidance for private schools participating in the Private [...]
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August 13 DPI Choice Email
August 13, 2020
From a Department of Public Instruction email on August 13, 2020: Hello Choice and SNSP Administrators and Interested Parties, Last week, Mike Thompson, the Department of Public Instruction’s (DPI) Deputy State Superintendent, shared a letter with public school district administrators regarding the regulatory flexibility framework to address COVID-19 flexibility needs for school districts. In that [...]
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