Student Funding

For 2023–24, the maximum voucher amount is $14,671. Voucher amounts are calculated as a portion of the state’s revenue limit, which includes a combination of state aid and local property taxes. Each school year, maximum voucher payments, which are indexed to the revenue ceiling, increase as general school aid to Wisconsin public schools increases.

(Last updated December 14, 2023)

Student Eligibility

Participating students must have an active Individualized Education Plan (IEP). Students may continue participating in the program as long as they have an IEP and attend an eligible school until they turn 21 or graduate high school, whichever comes first.

(Last updated December 14, 2023)

EdChoice Expert Feedback

Wisconsin’s voucher for students with disabilities helps thousands of students access schools that are the right fit for them, but policymakers could do more to expand educational opportunity.

Eligibility for the scholarships is limited to students with special needs who have Individualized Education Plan (IEP). About one in eight Wisconsin students are eligible to receive a scholarship. Statewide, less than 5 percent of students participate in one of Wisconsin’s private educational choice options (including the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program, the Racine Parental Choice Program, the Statewide Parental Choice Program, and the K-12 Private School Tuition Deduction).

The average scholarship size is about $12,700, which is just under the average expenditure per student at Wisconsin’s district schools.

In 2023, Wisconsin policymakers took the positive step of increasing the voucher amounts to be closer to per-pupil spending at district schools. Wisconsin policymakers should also expand eligibility to all students. The program could also be converted into an education savings account to ensure that all students have access to the education that’s the right fit for them, whether private school or a customized course of education.

Wisconsin’s voucher program for students with special needs has some unnecessary and counterproductive regulations. For example, the program requires voucher students in certain grades to take the state’s standardized test. Instead of mandating a single test, policymakers should allow parents and schools to choose from a variety of nationally norm-referenced tests.

(Last updated December 14, 2023)

Rules and Regulations

• Income Limit: None
• Prior Year Public School Requirement: Yes
• Geographic Limit: Statewide
• Enrollment Cap: None
• Voucher Cap: $14,671
• Testing Mandates: State Civics Exam for high school graduation, unless IEP exempts student from participation
• *Limited to students with special needs

School Requirements

• Meet state and federal nondiscrimination policies
• Provide each applicant under the program with a profile of the school’s special education program (that must include the methods of instruction the school will use to provide special education and related services to the student and the qualifications of the teachers and other persons who will be providing special education and related services to the student.)
• Implement the student’s most recent IEP or services plan, as modified by agreement between the school and the student’s parent, and related services agreed to by the school and the student’s parent that are not included in the IEP or services plan
• Obtain verification that an applying student with a disability has an IEP or services plan in effect before intending to accept the application of the student
• Administer background checks for all employees
• Provide a record upon request of the implementation of the student’s IEP or services plan, including an evaluation of the student’s progress, to the school board of the school district in which the student resides
• Regularly report to the student’s parent on the student’s progress
• Annually submit to the state a financial audit conducted by a certified public accountant
• Provide the state evidence of sound fiscal practices and financial viability
• School administrators must undergo financial training and have at least a teaching license or a bachelor’s degree from a nationally or regionally accredited institution of higher education
  • Teachers must have a teaching license or a bachelor’s degree from a nationally or regionally accredited institution of higher education, and teacher aides must have received a high school diploma or been granted a GED or HSED
• Provide 1,050 hours of direct pupil instruction in grades 1–6 and 1,137 hours of direct pupil instruction in grades 7–12
• Provide the department of public instruction with information about the academic program at the participating school and student test score data
• Meet all health and safety codes

(Last updated December 14, 2023)

Governing Statutes

Wis. Stat. §115.7915

(Last updated December 14, 2023)

Legal History

On October 12, 2023, a lawsuit funded by the Minocqua Brewing Company SUPERPAC was filed by a group of parents, public officials, and other plaintiffs in the Supreme Court of Wisconsin. The petition for original action argues the Independent Charter School Program, Milwaukee Parental Choice Program, statewide Parental Choice Program, and Special Needs Scholarship Program are all unconstitutional and asks the Court to halt the programs for the 2024-25 school year. The success of the programs, coupled with a change in the state’s funding formula in 2015, appear to have prompted this action.

Plaintiffs allege the programs violate the Wisconsin Constitution’s Uniform Taxation Clause [Art. VIII, Sec. 1], the annual school tax requirement [Art. X, Sec. 4], and the superintendent supervision clause [Art. X, Sec. 1]. Plaintiffs state that superintendents are not provided with sufficient control over participating private schools, arguing the Wisconsin Constitution requires superintendents to “supervise the instruction paid for by the public that is occurring at these private schools.”

Plaintiffs also allege the choice programs violate Wisconsin’s public purpose doctrine because there is less oversight and regulation of participating schools compared to public schools, thus the “private school programs serve no public purpose.” They further claim the programs lack a public purpose because they are “affirmatively designed to undermine Wisconsin’s public education system by robbing it blind and forcing local districts into financial death spirals.” Julie Underwood v. Robin Vos, 2023AP001896.

(Last updated December 14, 2023)