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Bills from the 2025–26 session

Senate Bill 1151

General equalization aids, the reimbursement rate for special education costs, excluding special education reimbursement from certain per pupil payments, and making an appropriation. (FE)

Topics: Children: Special educational needs, Public Instruction, Department of, School: Attendance, School: Charter school, School: State aid

Stopped in committee

It never got a ⁠, so it never came up for a vote. The last day for votes this session was Mar 19, 2026. To try again, a lawmaker would have to start a new bill.

  1. Introduced, passed

    Mar 19, 2026

  2. Committee, stopped here

    Stopped here. No public hearing was held.

  3. Senate vote, not reached

  4. Assembly vote, not reached

  5. Governor, not reached

  6. Law, not reached

Latest entry in the official record, Mar 23, 2026: “Failed to pass pursuant to ⁠”

It never got a hearing in the Senate Committee on Education. The committee's chair at the time was John Jagler. Chairs decide which bills get a hearing. See every bill that never got a hearing this session.

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The same bill was also filed in the Assembly as AB 1176. That version died when the session ended.

What it would have done

Summary by the , the Legislature's nonpartisan drafting office. It's their wording, not ours.

This bill increases the amount of funding distributed to school districts as state aid through the equalization formula by $445,949,400 in the 2026-27 school year.

The bill also changes the rate at which the state reimburses school boards, operators of independent charter schools, cooperative educational service agencies (CESAs), and county children with disabilities education boards (CCDEBs) for costs incurred to provide special education and related services to children with disabilities and for school age parents programs (eligible costs). Under current law, the state reimburses the full cost of special education for children in hospitals and convalescent homes for orthopedically disabled children. After those costs are paid, the state reimburses remaining eligible costs from the amount remaining in the appropriation account at a rate that distributes the full amount appropriated. Currently, the Department of Public Instruction provides 1) special education aid to school districts, independent charter schools, CESAs, and CCDEBs; 2) aid to school districts, CESAs, and CCDEBs for providing physical or mental health treatment services to private school and tribal school pupils; and 3) aid for school age parents programs to school districts only. The amount appropriated for special education aid in the biennial budget was estimated to provide a proration rate of 42 percent in fiscal year 2025-26 and 45 percent in fiscal year 2026-27. However, on November 17, 2025, DPI notified school districts and other eligible entities that the interim proration rate for special education payments is 35 percent due to an increase in projected eligible costs during the 2025-27 fiscal biennium. The bill changes the appropriation for special education reimbursement to a sum sufficient and provides that, beginning in the 2025-26 school year, after full payment of hospital and convalescent home costs, the remaining costs are reimbursed at 60 percent of eligible costs.

Read the full summary

The bill also excludes any increase in special education reimbursement from the calculation for the annual adjustment in the per pupil payment amounts under the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program, the Racine Parental Choice Program, the statewide parental choice program, and the Special Needs Scholarship Program, the per pupil payment amount to independent charter schools, the transfer amount under the full-time open enrollment program, and the required transfer amount for a child with a disability in a whole grade sharing agreement (collectively “per pupil payments”). Under current law, the annual adjustment for per pupil payments is an amount equal to the sum of any per member revenue limit increase that applies to school districts in that school year and any per member increase in categorical aids, including special education reimbursement, between the current school year and the previous school year. Under this bill, any increase in special education reimbursement between the current school year and the previous school year may not be included in the annual adjustment for per pupil payments, beginning with per pupil payments for the 2026-27 school year.

Who's behind it

12 senators are its ⁠. All 12 are Democrats.

43 more lawmakers ⁠.

See all 55 names

Authors (12)

Signed on in support (43)

What happened

  1. Mar 23, 2026

    The session ended, and the bill died with it.

  2. Mar 19, 2026

    Sent to the Senate Committee on Education.

  3. Mar 19, 2026

    Introduced in the Senate.

See the official record, word for word
  1. Mar 19, 2026 · Senate

    Introduced by Senators Larson, Carpenter, Dassler-Alfheim, Habush Sinykin, Keyeski, Pfaff, Ratcliff, Roys, Smith, Spreitzer, Wall and Wirch; cosponsored by Representatives Phelps, Cruz, Neubauer, Anderson, Andraca, Arney, Bare, Billings, Brown, Clancy, DeSanto, DeSmidt, Doyle, Emerson, Fitzgerald, Goodwin, Haywood, Hong, Hysell, J. Jacobson, Joers, Johnson, Kirsch, Madison, McCarville, McGuire, Miresse, Moore Omokunde, Palmeri, Prado, Rivera-Wagner, Roe, Sheehan, Sinicki, Snodgrass, Spaude, Stroud, Stubbs, Subeck, Taylor, Tenorio, Udell and Vining

  2. Mar 19, 2026 · Senate

    Read first time and referred to Committee on Education

  3. Mar 23, 2026 · Senate

    Failed to pass pursuant to Senate Joint Resolution 1

Terms on this page

Committee

A small group of lawmakers that looks at a bill first. Most bills never leave committee.

More in the glossary

Public hearing

A meeting where anyone can speak to a committee about a bill, or send written comments.

More in the glossary

Senate Joint Resolution 1

The session's calendar. Any bill not passed by its last voting day dies.

Official term: Failed to pass pursuant to SJR 1. More in the glossary

Legislative Reference Bureau

The Legislature's nonpartisan office that drafts bills and writes the summary at the top of each one.

Official term: LRB analysis. More in the glossary

Author

A lawmaker who formally puts a bill forward. The text itself is drafted by the Legislative Reference Bureau.

Official term: Author, coauthor. More in the glossary

Signed on in support

Lawmakers who back a bill without being one of its authors, often from the other chamber.

Official term: Cosponsor. More in the glossary

From the Wisconsin Legislature's official record, checked Sep 15, 2026. See the source

Committee

A small group of lawmakers that looks at a bill first. Most bills never leave committee.

More in the glossary

Public hearing

A meeting where anyone can speak to a committee about a bill, or send written comments.

More in the glossary

Senate Joint Resolution 1

The session's calendar. Any bill not passed by its last voting day dies.

Official term: Failed to pass pursuant to SJR 1

More in the glossary

Legislative Reference Bureau

The Legislature's nonpartisan office that drafts bills and writes the summary at the top of each one.

Official term: LRB analysis

More in the glossary

Author

A lawmaker who formally puts a bill forward. The text itself is drafted by the Legislative Reference Bureau.

Official term: Author, coauthor

More in the glossary

Signed on in support

Lawmakers who back a bill without being one of its authors, often from the other chamber.

Official term: Cosponsor

More in the glossary