Pupil Count (WiSFiP)

Pupil Count Program, WiSFiP/SAFR Dual Reporting for 2025-26: Pupil Count for Membership/School Finance

Wisconsin School Finance Portal (WiSFiP): Dual Reporting for the 2025-26 SY

In an effort to simplify the process of data collection for district personnel responsible for the PI 1563 pupil counts, DPI is moving to dual reporting through WiSFiP and SAFR for the 2025-26 school year. All districts, state wide, will dual report in the 2025-26 school year.

Count Date Name

Count Date Name refers to the name of the dates when pupil counts (headcounts) occur to obtain student status (e.g., Third Friday of September).

Count Date Receiving Services Descriptor

Count Date Receiving Services Descriptor refers to the status of a student on a specific count date (e.g., Present).

Enrollment WiSFiP 

The enrollment type describes how a student is enrolled at a school, whether as a primary or non-primary enrollment. Membership (M) and Primary (P) are primary enrollment types. Coursework (C) and Parentally Placed Private (PPP) are non-primary enrollment types. You can also visit the Enrollment Type (WISEdata) data element page as well. 

Full-Time Equivalency

Full Time Equivalency (FTE) is the full-time equivalent ratio for the student’s assignment to a school for services or instruction.

Membership

Membership is the result of pupil count. Students are counted and membership is determined by comparing resident enrollment to the full-time equivalency (FTE) of each enrolled student. Membership is used to determine accountability reporting connected to state aid for funding.

Part-Time Instructional Minutes

Part-Time Instructional Minutes are calculated for part-time students taking up to two (2) classes.

Programs

The only program names to be used within the Pupil Count module are ‘Challenge Academy’ or '5-year-old Blended'. For more information on the 5-year-old Blended kindergarten program visit the Pupil Count PI-1563 Student Categories page.

Residency Begin and End Dates

Residency is the indication of a student’s legal residence relative to the boundaries of the public school attended, and its administrative unit. Residency begin and end dates mark the month, day, and year on which the student entered residency status.

Residency Status Collection

Residency Status Collection is a 'mini collection' consisting of residency status, resident LEA ID, residency begin date/s, and residency end date/s. These details are stored under a student's enrollment record in WISEdata Portal. 

NOTE: In order for data to be entered into WiSFiP, the user must hold the WISEsecure role, "Student Data Administrator." To gain this role, reach out to your District Security Administrator (DSA). Your DSA can assign you the proper role to WiSFiP via WISEsecure.

Use Cases, Details, and FAQs

1. Timeline for the Pupil Count for Membership transition:
   • July 1, 2025 - June 30, 2026: Dual Reporting, PI-1563  via SAFR, and WiSFiP Pupil Count Module, and Additional WiSFiP Reporting.
   • July 1, 2026 - June 30, 2027: PI-1563 Retired; All Collection via WiSFiP Pupil Count Module and Additional WiSFiP Reporting
2. What is the Relationship Between the WiSFiP Pupil Count Module, WISEdata enrollment count, and the PI 1563 Membership Count?
   • Different reports are collected to count enrollment and membership, but the most well-known are PI 1563 and WISEdata. Both include data about students served both within school buildings and outside of school buildings, by district employees, and by third parties. Differences in the purposes of these two collections affect which students count for which districts, and whether - or how much - each student counts.

• Enrollment type is currently collected via PI 1563 from both Choice and public schools. It indicates how a student is enrolled at a school (primary enrollment or non-primary). It has a variety of uses for collecting, reporting, and accountability purposes. Visit the Enrollment Type (WISEdata) data element page and the Enrollment (WiSFiP) data element page for more details.
• Enrollment through WiSFiP/SAFR Pupil Count for Membership will be collected from all LEAs as of the 2025-26 school year. At this time this data collection is not required from independent charter schools, Choice schools, and State agencies. County Children with Disability Education Board (CCDEB) has a separate report from the Pupil Count report.
• The most significant difference between collection in WiSFiP and collection in SAFR will be the ease of collection. LEAs will no longer have to manually enter their pupil counts! In the WiSFiP process the only thing the LEA needs to do is enter the count of students qualified for membership using their SIS. Once data lands in WISEdata, an LEA gets to preview it before they publish to WiSFiP. The module of the WiSFiP application will process counts pre-filled by DPI based on membership attributes submitted to to WISEdata via the API.
  • For WiSFiP/SAFR Pupil Count for Membership, the Pupil Count Module will allow DPI to pre-fill counts for most of the pupil count categories.
  • Standard “steps” of the PI 1563 methods of counting will be used. PI 1563, the current method for pupil count, is a detailed, internet-based application accessed via the School Finance Reporting Portal which allows the DPI to collect information on pupil count, residency, and more.

1. What are the WiSFiP count date pupil count summary pages? The pupil count summary is filtered by grade level categories.
   • All the student counts under Part 1 (‘Students I am Counting’) + Resident Chapter 220 + Intra 220 counts are summed up to Total Pupil Count
   • Summary Count is the headcount
   • The actual FTE count is calculated by the School Finance team
     • For example, Part-time Home-based private education/homeschooled student is counted as 1 headcount even though FTE is not 1.
2. What is Membership?Membership is a statistic, a number, derived from comparing resident enrollment to the full-time equivalency (FTE) of each enrolled student, used to determine accountability reporting connected to state aid for funding. Membership is calculated in different and nuanced ways, but it is always connected to school finance. For more specific details about membership, you can refer to the School Finance Services (SFS) Data Warehouse Glossary.
   • Additionally, with WiSFiP Pupil Count for Membership, membership also refers to a specific enrollment type. When referring to membership as an enrollment type, it is defined as a primary enrollment used to count pupils for state aid (membership) reporting purposes only. This enrollment type is submitted rarely, as it is used for students whose age is outside the expected range that must be met for grade levels. Visit the Enrollment Type (WISEdata) data element page and the Enrollment (WiSFiP) data element page for more details.
3. What are the Pupil Count/WiSFiP Student Program Association: When pertaining to the Pupil Count for Membership via WiSFiP for the 25-26 school year:
   • Program Type: Only ‘Other’ should be entered into the WiSFiP membership application, and
   • Program Name:  The ONLY program names to be used are ‘Challenge Academy’ or '5-year-old Blended'. For more information on the 5-year-old Blended kindergarten program visit the Pupil Count PI-1563 Student Categories page.
   • Data for students in Challenge Academy and 5-Year-Old-Blended Kindergarten programs are collected separately.
4. Students in Challenge Academy: Currently in WISEdata, these students are reported, but DPI does not know if they are physically located on site at the Challenge Academy, or at school receiving instruction. LEA’s do not follow consistent practices in reporting these students. It is desirable and beneficial for all LEAs to standardize the data collecting process about Challenge Academy students.
   • Within the WiSFiP/SAFR Pupil Count for Membership application, during the 2025-26 school year, LEAs need to conduct the following steps to report Challenge Academy students as resident / attending districts:
   • Submit Challenge Academy enrollments to WISEdata.
   • Identify if students are enrolled in the Challenge Academy program through WiSFiP membership application by using Program Type - Other, and Program Name - Challenge Academy.
   • Doing this will allow the DPI to count the students under the pupil count of their resident district, and identify students who are in the Challenge Academy program. In future years the goal is for School Finance to completely rely on WISEdata to get the Challenge Academy students list through the WiSFiP Membership application.
   • For more information about Challenge Academy, refer to the SFS Challenge Academy webpage, and the Uncommon WISEdata Situations webpage for students receiving off-site services.
5. Students in 5-year-old Blended programs: 5-yr-old Blended kindergarten programs are referred to as such because either a.) the structure of the full-year program varies from the first semester to the second semester,or b.) the structure of the weekly program varies from day to day. Districts who have blended kindergarten programs will be asked a series of questions in the reporting model to accurately determine membership based on the number of students enrolled who are aged 5 on or before September 1 of the current school year – OR – students enrolled who are aged 5 and admitted under Wis. Stat. §120.12 (25).
   • Within the WiSFiP/SAFR Pupil Count for Membership application, during the 2025-26 school year, LEAs need to conduct the following steps to report these students as residents of/attending their districts:
   • Submit 5-yr-old Blended enrollments to WISEdata.
   • Identify if students are enrolled in 5-yr-old Blended program through WiSFiP membership application by using Program Type – Other, and Program Name – 5 yr old Blended.
   • Doing this will allow DPI to count students under the pupil count of their resident district, and identify students who are in a 5-yr-old Blended program. In future years the goal is for School Finance to completely rely on WISEdata to get 5-yr-old Blended students listed through the WiSFiP Membership application.
   • For more information on the 5-year-old Blended program, please visit the SFS page on Pupil Count Student Categories.

If you have WiSFiP Pupil Count questions, contact the DPI School Finance Services (SFS) Team
by email (dpifin@dpi.wi.gov) or by phone (608) 267-9114.

If you need assistance from the Partner Support Team about WISEdata Portal, please submit a WISE Help Ticket.
To provide feedback, click the "Submit Feedback" button.

Return to WISE Data Elements main listing page