The Latest

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

In a conference call with the Department of Public Instruction’s (DPI) Assistant State Superintendent Robert Soldner Thursday afternoon (8/6), WCRIS was given the following information about issues of great concern to our schools: 1. Pupil Counts: The DPI is working on issuing updated guidance on hours of instruction and modes of instruction. Soldner said the [...]

Many WCRIS principals have been asking about liability waivers as they head into a new school year with possible in-person instruction, and the health threats posed by COVID-19. Church Mutual, which insures WCRIS and many of the churches that sponsor our schools, has provided sample waivers, and other resources on their website. Since the resources [...]

For the second time, WCRIS is helping defend the ability of religious and independent schools to fully access the federal ESSER funds provided by Congress for pandemic relief. Thanks to the Wisconsin Institute for Law & LIberty (WILL), an amicus brief signed by 38 nonpublic school groups, including WCRIS, was filed Wednesday (8/5) in the [...]

An amicus, or friend of the court brief, signed by WCRIS and 38 other nonpublic school groups from around the country, was filed by the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL) in the U.S. District Court of Northern California this afternoon (July 29). The brief is supporting the U.S. Department of Education’s Interim Final [...]

The DPI released updated guidance on how to handle Individualized Education Programs (IEP) and special education issues during the COVID-19 pandemic, which has affected access to public school staff generating the plans. The guidance was issued in July. You can read it here.