The Herb Kohl Educational Foundation has announced the 46 private school winners of $496,000 in Principal, Teacher and Student awards to WCRIS schools. These winners were selected from a competitive field of applicants from across the state and represent the best and brightest in private K-12 schools. Fourteen Teacher Fellowship award recipients each receive $6,000 [...]
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Current Events
A library of WCRIS weekly E-letters that keeps you updated on issues of concern to private schools
Gov. Evers Reveals Budget Proposals on Choice
February 25, 2019
The Governor is scheduled to issue his proposed 2019-21 state budget Thursday. In the last few weeks, Gov. Evers has told the state’s media he won’t phase out the Choice program. But, he revealed in a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel story today how he plans to control the Choice programs. This has prompted many questions from [...]
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WCRIS Advocates for Digital/Virtual Instruction
February 21, 2019
The Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL) has interceded on WCRIS’ behalf to press the DPI to reconsider its’ ruling that schools in a Parental Choice Program can not use digital/virtual instruction to meet their hours of instruction requirements. In a February 21 letter to DPI Superintendent Carolyn Stanford Taylor, WILL asked the agency [...]
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You Can’t Control the Weather, But You Can Control the Spread of Disease
February 14, 2019
Several states are experiencing large outbreaks of the measles virus, in areas that are considered unvaccinated “hotspots.” The measles was considered eliminated in the US a decade ago but have since seen a rise in outbreaks over the last few years from a national increase in state exemptions for meeting vaccine requirements, according to the [...]
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Sitting is the New Smoking
February 07, 2019
The Wisconsin Healthy Schools Challenge is providing free, nutrition education classroom kits to the first 300 schools who register to participate in the new grant opportunity supported by Children’s Hospital Hospital. The kits include resources and tools to support school-wide nutrition education. When you register you “choose your challenge” and over the next few months [...]
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Need A Water Bottle Filling Station?
February 07, 2019
The Delta Dental Foundation of Wisconsin just announced a new grant program to replace existing water fountains with water bottle filling stations combined with a water fountain, similar to what many of you may have seen at airports throughout the US. The Cool Water program is open for participation by any school in Wisconsin, including [...]
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Racine Journal Editorial Board Says Vouchers on Tax Bills Not the Answer
January 31, 2019
The City of Racine was one of the first cities to include a breakout of how much taxpayer money goes towards voucher schools. The Racine Journal’s Editorial Board wrote an editorial detailing why they believe breaking out the voucher amount is misleading to the public and disagreeing with a move to make it a common practice [...]
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Thinking about Choice? See How Many Vouchers are Available in your Area
January 25, 2019
If your school is considering participating in the Wisconsin or Racine Parental Choice programs in the future, you can get a general idea of how many voucher seats are available in your enrollment area by reviewing the DPI Report on the 2018 third Friday enrollment counts and payment data, the most recent data available. The [...]
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Help Your School Parents Claim a Private School Tuition Tax Deduction
January 25, 2019
Private school parents can benefit from Wisconsin’s K-12 tuition tax deduction by simply completing a one-page form with their 2018 state tax filing. This is a state tax deduction that was won by WCRIS for private K-12 school parents across the state. But it does no good for private school families and schools unless parents [...]
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Forward Exam Update for Private Schools
January 18, 2019
The DPI reports that this year the Science Forward Exam will be based on the new Wisconsin Science Standards. On January 23, Kevin Anderson, the DPI Science Consultant, will host a webinar from 3:30 to 4:15 with information about the new exam and new item types. If you would like to participate in the webinar, [...]
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