Overview
High Cost Special Education Aid (HCSE) 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 charter schools (ICS'), Cooperative Educational Service Agencies (CESAs) or County Children with Disability Education Boards (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.
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 2025.
WISEid Troubleshooting
LEAs must be in agreement with FAPE responsibility and enrollment reporting. Please be sure to communicate with your partnering LEA to resolve any conflicts and see this webpage for common issues and resolutions.
Open an online WISEdata help ticket.
The reporting period opened on Tuesday, January 21, 2025 and closed on Monday, March 24, 2025. The expected date of high-cost special education aid payment is June 16, 2025.
Upcoming: Fiscal reporting of eligible FY2024-25 high-cost special education data will begin on December 15, 2025 and close on February 23, 2026.
Items to have ready prior completing the application:
- WISEid verification of FAPE for your resident district
- Verification of IEP-indicated time duration for services provided to each student
- Staff valid license confirmation through ELO lookup tool
- Contact the licensing team directly for assistance prior to submission of any data
- High-Cost Special Education Presentation Slide Decks (click here to expand)
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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 the resource in a browser
- High-Cost Special Education WiSFiP Access
- High-Cost Special Education Introduction to Costs
- High-Cost Special Education Student-Specific or Program Cost
- High-Cost Special Education Equipment Costs
- High-Cost Special Education Child Specific Data Entry
- High-Cost Special Education Specified Services and Claim Summary
- WASBO Accounting Conference 2024 High-Cost Special Education Presentation
Funding
High-Cost Special Education Aid is a sum-certain appropriation in the state's biennial budget. The 2024-25 high-cost appropriation is $14,480,000.
Payment Details for June 2024
FY2023-24 claims for FY2022-23 eligible costs were due on March 11, 2024. The FY2023-24 high cost appropriation was $13,032,000. The average reimbursement rate in 2023-24 for LEAs was 24.23% of each student's eligible costs above $30,000. The HCSE aid payment is made on the third Monday in June. Revenue is coded to Fund 27, source 625.
Quick Links
- Chapter PI 30 Special Education Aid
- Subscribe to the School Finance Bulletin for reporting updates and deadlines.