TINA L. SCOTT
EDITOR
Last week, Jan. 22-28, 2023, was National School Choice Week. Wisconsin’s private voucher program is the nation’s oldest such program. In 1990, with bipartisan support from lawmakers, the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program began. After more than 20 successful years, in 2011, the Racine program was added, and just two years later, in 2013, the program began statewide.
Children spend roughly 1,000 years per academic year in school. Here in Wisconsin, parents can choose the education system that best supports their child and their family, along with their child’s specific needs and goals. Such choices in Wisconsin include sending their children to traditional public schools in their district, to public charter schools or public magnet schools, to private schools, attending school via online academies, homeschooling, and utilizing learning pods.
In some cases, parents can also open enroll their child in a school in another district or in a different school within their district.
The inter-district open enrollment application period for the 2023-24 school year is about to begin and will run from Monday, Feb. 6 – April 28, 2023 at 4:00 p.m.
Any Wisconsin resident whose children are in 4K up to and including grade 12 may apply for open enrollment of their child(ren), that is, may apply for their child(ren) to attend public school in a school district other than the one in which they reside, but must complete an application to do so within this timeframe. Applications are available at: https://dpi.wi.gov/open-enrollment.
Either the nonresident or resident school districts may deny an application for reasons specified in state law. If an application is denied by either the resident or nonresident school district, the parent may file an appeal with the State Department of Public Instruction (DPI) within 30 days. The DPI will affirm the school district’s decision, unless it is determined the decision was arbitrary or unreasonable.
In most cases, if children are approved to attend school in a nonresident school district, parents are responsible for providing transportation to and from school at their own expense. Low-income parents may apply to the DPI for reimbursement of a portion of their transportation costs.
There is also an alternative open enrollment process.
According to the office of State Assembly Representative Calvin Callahan, who represents the 35th District of Wisconsin, last year 71,489 students open-enrolled from one public school to attend another one.
Locally, for the 2021-2022 academic year, September 2021 count data indicated 816 students had open enrolled into the Merrill Area Public Schools (MAPS) district, including 752 students who had open enrolled into the MAPS in the Bridges Virtual Academy, while 162 students had open enrolled out of MAPS during that same data count period.