Parental choice programs, the Special Needs Scholarship Program, granting rule-making authority, and making an appropriation. (FE)

1. Requires a private school participating in a choice program to conduct background checks of its employees and prohibits a private school from employing any individual who would be ineligible for a teaching license based on his or her criminal history and any individual who may pose a threat to the safety of others.

2. Eliminates the requirement that a private school participating in a choice program annually satisfy at least one of the following standards: a) at least 70 percent of the pupils in the program advance one grade level each year; b) the private school's average attendance rate for the pupils in the program is at least 90 percent;

c) at least 80 percent of the pupils in the program demonstrate significant academic progress; or d) at least 70 percent of the families of pupils in the program meet parent involvement criteria established by the private school.

3. Specifies that a private school participating in a choice program is not required to administer certain knowledge and content examinations if fewer than 20 pupils in grades 3 to 12 are attending the private school under the choice program.

Under current law, a private school participating in a choice program is not required to administer the examinations if fewer than 20 pupils are attending the private school under the choice program.

4. Prohibits the Department of Public Instruction from requiring a private school participating in the statewide parental choice program to submit financial information for an applicant who was on a waiting list for the statewide parental choice program in the previous school year or to verify the family income of such an applicant.

5. Replaces Wisconsin North Central Association with AdvancED in the list of entities that are accrediting agencies for purposes of the choice programs and the Special Needs Scholarship Program.

6. Requires a private school participating in a choice program to refund its reserve balance to DPI if the private school does not maintain a cash and investment balance that is at least equal to its reserve balance.

7. Requires that the annual independent financial audit submitted to DPI be prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles only if a private school has received a total of at least $100,000 under the choice programs and the Special Needs Scholarship Program in any school year. If a private school has not received a total of at least $100,000 under the choice programs and the Special Needs Scholarship Program in any school year, the financial audit must be prepared as prescribed by the department by rule.

8. Changes the annual deadline for a private school participating in a choice program to provide evidence to DPI that the private school remains accredited for the current school year from January 15 to August 1.

9. Changes the date by which a private school participating in a choice program must file a summer school daily attendance report from October 1 to September 15.

10. Eliminates the requirement that a private school participating in a choice program annually provide DPI information related to how many pupils attended the private school in the previous school year and eliminates the requirement that a private school submit an updated operating budget to DPI by November 1 of the first school term in which the private school participates in the choice program.

11. Allows a private school participating in a choice program to charge pupils who attend the private school under one of the programs reasonable fees to recover the cost of providing room and board.

12. Requires that up to 140 hours of work in a work-based learning program count towards the minimum required number of hours of direct pupil instruction that must be provided by a private school participating in a choice program.

13. Requires a private school to submit either a surety bond or an anticipated budget and evidence of the school's financial viability prior to the first school term in which the private school participates in a choice program. If the private school submits a surety bond, the private school must continue to submit an annual surety bond until certain conditions are satisfied. If a private school submits a budget and evidence of financial viability and DPI determines that the private school is not financially viable, the private school may not participate in a choice program in that school year.

14. Requires a private school that participated in a choice program in the previous school year to submit certain school policies and academic standards adopted by the private school at DPI's request, instead of submitting the policies and academic standards to DPI each year as required under current law. The bill also requires these continuing private schools to provide to DPI only signatures of new members of its governing body, rather than signatures from all of the members of its governing body each year. For a private school that did not participate in a choice program in the previous year, the bill requires the private school to submit all of its policies and signatures from all of the members of its governing body to DPI by January 10 of the immediately preceding school year and to submit academic standards adopted by the private school by August 1 of the current school year.

15. Allows DPI to bar a private school from participating in a choice program in the current school year and the following school year for intentionally or negligently misrepresenting any information required under the program. Under current law, DPI may bar a private school in the current school year if DPI determines the private school misrepresented information related to the school's financial viability or to the school's local certificate of occupancy.

Pupil applications to participate in a choice program This bill makes the following changes to the choice programs:

1. Allows an applicant for a choice program to receive a determination about the applicant's income eligibility for the choice program directly from the Department of Revenue as part of the application process.

2. Eliminates the requirement to verify a pupil's family income for participation in the Racine Parental Choice Program if the pupil attended a private school under the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program in the immediately preceding school year and similarly eliminates the requirement to verify a pupil's family income for participation in the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program if the pupil attended a private school under the Racine Parental Choice Program in the immediately preceding school year. Under current law, the family income limits for the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program and the Racine Parental Choice Program are both 300 percent of the federal poverty level.

3. Changes the deadline for notifying an applicant whether his or her application to attend a private school under a choice program has been accepted to no later than 60 days after the end of the application period during which the application is received. Under current law, the deadline is 60 days after the applicant's application is received.

4. Expands the criteria that satisfy the prior year attendance eligibility requirement for participating in the statewide or Racine parental choice program to include a) a pupil who attended school in another state in the previous school year and b) a pupil who was on a waiting list to attend a private school under any choice program during the previous school year. Additionally, the bill specifies that a pupil satisfies the prior year attendance requirement if he or she attended a private school under any choice program in the previous school year. Under current law, a pupil may participate in the statewide or Racine parental choice program only if the pupil satisfies one of the following attendance requirements: a) the pupil attended a public school in Wisconsin the previous school year; b) the pupil was not enrolled in school in the previous school year; c) the pupil is applying for grades kindergarten, first, or ninth in the current school year or; d) the pupil attended a private school in either the statewide or Racine parental choice program in the previous school year.

5. Expands the first priority in the priority list for accepting applications to attend a private school under a choice program to include pupils who attended that private school under any choice program rather than under a specific choice program.

6. Limits certain application procedures that apply only to the statewide parental choice program to the period during which there is a limit on how many pupils may participate in the statewide parental choice program. The bill also requires DPI to determine which applications to accept during this period. Under current law, applications for the statewide parental choice program are accepted from February 1 to April 20. Additionally, under current law, applications for the statewide parental choice program are forwarded to DPI, and DPI determines whether a pupil participation limitation has been exceeded. Under current law, beginning in the 2018-19 school year, DPI determines which applications to accept if the total number of applicants exceeds a school district's pupil participation limit.

If a pupil participation cap for a school district is not exceeded, the private school determines which applications to accept.

7. Allows DPI to consider a pupil who accepted a space at a private school under the statewide parental choice program as a pupil attending the private school under the Racine parental choice program or the Milwaukee parental choice program if certain conditions are met.

8. Beginning in the 2017-18 school year, allows, between the first weekday in August and the third Friday in August, DPI to transfer the applications of certain pupils to a different private school participating in the statewide parental choice program. The bill allows DPI to transfer a pupil's application only if a) the pupil applied to participate in the statewide parental choice program during the immediately preceding enrollment period, which occurs between February 1 and April 20; b) the pupil's residence changed since the end of the immediately preceding enrollment period and the pupil continues to reside in a school district other than Racine Unified School District or Milwaukee Public Schools; c) the private school to which the pupil's application is transferred has space available in the pupil's grade;

and d) the pupil resides in a school district that has not exceeded its participation limit in the statewide parental choice program.

Special Needs Scholarship Program This bill makes the following changes to the Special Needs Scholarship Program:

1. Changes the manner in which pupils attending a private school under the Special Needs Scholarship Program are counted for purposes of school district revenue limits. Under current law, for purposes of calculating a school district's revenue limit, a pupil attending a private school under the Special Needs Scholarship Program is considered a pupil enrolled in the school district. Under the bill, for purposes of calculating a school district's revenue limit, a pupil attending a private school under the Special Needs Scholarship Program is treated in the same manner as an incoming pupil in the statewide or Racine parental choice program.

In other words, under the bill, a pupil attending a private school under the Special Needs Scholarship Program is not counted as a pupil enrolled in the school district for purposes of calculating a school district's revenue limit, but the school district may increase its revenue limit by the amount equal to any reduction made to the school district's state aid under the Special Needs Scholarship Program.

2. Clarifies the circumstances under which a pupil's resident school district administers knowledge and content examinations to a pupil attending a private school under the Special Needs Scholarship Program and the circumstances under which the private school the pupil is attending under the program administers the examinations.

3. Allows an Individualized Education Program team appointed by a nonresident school board to conduct a reevaluation of a pupil with a disability who is attending a private school under the Special Needs Scholarship Program in the nonresident school district.

4. Requires a private school participating in the Special Needs Scholarship Program to obtain verification that a child with a disability who has applied to attend the private school under the program has an IEP or services plan in effect before notifying DPI that the private school intends to accept the application of the child.

Under current law, DPI must verify that an IEP or services plan is in effect.

5. Makes the annual financial audit requirement for a private school participating in the Special Needs Scholarship Program the same as the requirement that applies to a private school participating in a choice program and allows a private school participating in a choice program that is also participating in the Special Needs Scholarship Program to satisfy the financial reporting requirements under the Special Needs Scholarship Program by submitting a comprehensive financial audit under the choice program.

6. Allows DPI to bar a private school from participating in the Special Needs Scholarship Program for intentionally or negligently misrepresenting any information required under the program. Under current law, DPI may bar a private school from participating in the Special Needs Scholarship Program if the private school intentionally and substantially misrepresents information related to the private schools duties under the program.