You are here

High Cost Special Education Aid

Overview

High Cost Special Education Aid provides additional support for school districts and other eligible LEAs serving students with disabilities that are significant and costly. Agencies apply for partial reimbursement of the costs for individual students in the previous fiscal year.

This program provides additional special education aid to Wisconsin school districts, independent (2r/2x) charter schools, CESAs or CCDEBs. An LEA is eligible if a student with disabilities has actual, additional, non-administrative costs of special education and related services in excess of $30,000. Some reimbursements are excluded. High Cost Special Education Aid is administered under s. 115.881, Wis. Stats., and PI 30, Wis. Admin. Code. By law, an LEA cannot receive both High Cost Special Education Aid and Supplemental Special Education Aid.

Eligible Costs

Eligible costs are defined in the program guidance document.

Application Process

Application process instructions. Instructions for accessing the application.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Review our list of frequently asked questions for 2024.

The report opens on Monday, January 22, 2024, and closes on Monday, March 11, 2024. 

Presentation Slide Decks

The PowerPoint slide decks are included with enabled link functionality. 

  • Click on the first slide or press ENTER to begin the slide show presentation
  • Click to proceed to next slide
  • Click on a hyperlink to open in the browser

1. High-Cost Special Education WiSFiP Access

2. High-Cost Special Education Introduction to Costs

3. High-Cost Special Education Student-Specific or Program Cost

4. High-Cost Special Education Equipment Costs

5. High-Cost Special Education Child Specific Data Entry

6. High-Cost Special Education Specified Services and Claim Summary

Funding

High-Cost Special Education Aid is a sum-certain appropriation in the state's biennial budget. The 2023-24 high-cost appropriation is $13,032,000. The average reimbursement rate in 2022-23 for LEAs was 29.07% of each student's cost above $30,000.

Payment Details

2022-23 claims for 2021-22 students were due on April 14, 2023. The 2022-23 high cost appropriation was $11,439,200. Payment was made on the third Monday in June. Revenue was coded to Fund 27, source 625.

Quick Links

Clearinghouse Rule 19-147

Proposed revision to PI 30 currently in its final stage of legislative review.