From Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction:
“LEAs are not required to provide equitable services to private schools with ESSER III. Congress provided [$73,506,205 in] additional funding to the Emergency Assistance for Non-Public Schools (EANS) program, administered by the DPI.”
Additional context from IRG Senior Research Director Quinton Klabon:
→ As schools enter second semester, I must point out that private schools received just $504 per student in EANS II relief compared to $1,853 for public schools’ ESSER III. Students face the same challenges in any school, but there is yet another funding discrepancy between district and choice.
→ Of the 141 districts where both private and public schools got money, there were 105 where private schools got less per student. Ashwaubenon had the highest gap in favor of private schools at $292 more, whereas Milwaukee had the highest gap for public schools at $6,596 more! Why should a high-performing school like Saint Marcus Lutheran get $1,197 but a school 2 blocks over gets $7,731?
→ IRG will have more to say on ESSER soon. Stay tuned!