Consultations between Private Schools and LEAs

In Wisconsin, local education agencies (LEAs), also known as public school districts (districts) are required to collect a common “Private School Affirmation Form” (PSAF) from all of the private schools that they serve. This form is then uploaded into Wisconsin’s online federal grants program called, WISEgrants. A PSAF must be completed and uploaded into WISEgrants for every private school within a LEA’s boundaries and for any school that the district serves before the district can do any budgeting or planning for their own Title programs. The Department of Public Instruction (DPI) reviews every PSAF form uploaded into WISEgrants to verify that it is complete and accurate.

It’s important to remember that consultations should be ongoing and not once and done. The Spring is a good time to have a consultation meeting with your resident LEA to plan for services for the coming school year. At Spring consultations, your LEA should talk to you about the PSAF and/or walk through it with you. The DPI, in consultation with the Wisconsin Private School Ombudsman, updates the form annually. It is usually available for districts and private schools to start planning no later than the end of March.

Once you are satisfied with the consultation you’ve received from your LEA, you can sign the form and indicate you’ve received “timely and meaningful” consultation. If you do not feel like you’ve received timely and meaningful consultation or that the program designed by the district is not equitable for private school students, you can indicate as such on the form before signing it and returning it to your district. If you check “no” on the PSAF, that you did not receive timely and meaningful consultation/the program design is not equitable, the Wisconsin Private School Ombudsman is notified to step in and provide support.

Click through the section below to review key things principals should keep in mind when planning for their ESEA Consultations.

This past school year, you should have been reviewing your current Title programs. If you haven’t done so already, determine:

  1. Which services are offered by your district(s)?

  2. Which students are receiving Title I and/or Title III? How did you determine “educational need"?

  3. Are these services being administered efficiently?

  4. How did your school use the Title II allocation for professional development for teachers and staff? Was the PD effective?

  5. What are the allowable uses for Title I, II, III and IV? Visit the DPI’s website and enter the Title program in the search box for more information about allowable uses.

  6. Is the LEA following all provisions of the consultation process? USDOE guidance on this process can be found here.

  7. Through discussion with your LEA, what’s working and what’s not working.

Each school year, you should develop and/or implement an ongoing Needs Assessment for your programs. Title I provides direct instructional services for educationally needy private school students. Now under ESSA, Title I services can also include counseling, mentoring and one-on-one tutoring. Things to consider:

  1. Determine if your students would benefit from these new options.

  2. Talk with the LEA about how services will be implemented.

  3. Provide corresponding data to your LEA for why you need specific services for your students and how you will determine your program’s effectiveness.

  4. If you use a vendor for services, determine if they are able to offer these new options.

The formula for Title I has changed, which helps private schools. Consider the following:

  1. Ask your LEA liaison how the district plans to apportion its Title funds. You can ask for a copy of their district grant application.

  2. Use the “Equitable Share Calculators” on the DPI’s website, which will tell you how much money your students and teachers should get, to help you plan for services.

  3. Title I-A Calculator

  4. Title II-A Calculator

School districts are required to collect written affirmation from private school officials that timely and meaningful consultation has occurred. WCRIS worked with the DPI to create the Private School Affirmation Form. As a result, this form better serves private schools. There is a section to check off on receiving timely and meaningful consultation. The goal of consultations is to reach agreement between LEAs and private schools.
School districts must provide eligible private school students with services based on their proportionate share of funds, as requested by private school officials, to best meet the needs of their students. See below:

  1. Are your students receiving services comparable to what the public school district provides similarly needy students?

  2. Private school Title programs must use a “targeted assistance model” where most public schools operate under a “school-wide assistance model”. A targeted assistance model will never look “equal” to a school-wide model on paper.

  3. The ESSA law specifically uses the word equitable and not equal. Equal means exactly the same, whereas equitable means fair.

ESSA requires federal funding for private school students, teachers and staff to be spent in the year in which it is allocated. There are carryover options, but you are not guaranteed the exact carry over amount you return to your district, since the money goes back into one private school pot and is redistributed the following year based on your school’s new enrollment numbers. This is the same procedure followed for public schools. The best practice is to use all of your funding in the year in which it is allocated.
Low-income students generate Title I funding. Many LEAs use the Federal Free & Reduced Lunch Program as the poverty count for their student population (which means poverty is defined as 185%). Things to note:

  1. There are four methods that can be used in determining the low-income count for a private school if they do not participate in the Free & Reduced Lunch program. The measure must be comparable to the district’s count.

  2. View the DPI’s Collecting Poverty Data short.

  3. LEAs are charged with determining the poverty count in the private schools residing in their district at least every two years.

  4. It is important to note that the Wisconsin Parental Choice Programs use 220% of poverty for the statewide program and 300% for the Milwaukee and Racine programs. Therefore, having Choice students does not automatically generate funds for Title I.

The LEA needs your private school students’ names, home addresses and dates of birth. Additionally, it will need your student poverty data as outlined above. The LEA needs this information in order to accurately determine the equitable share of Title funding for private school students, teachers and staff in the district.
While phone and personal conversations are important, do not rely on “gentleman’s agreements” or verbal promises to get services for your students. Always follow-up in writing to build a file on how your students and school are faring. The details for how your Title programs work should be included on your Private School Affirmation Form (PSAF). The LEA must include your signed PSAF in their WISEgrants application.

Every Student Succeeds Act Q&A

Learn More ›
More Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA)
› Measuring Poverty for ESSA Title Programs
› Consultations between Private Schools and LEAs
› Wisconsin Private School Ombudsman