Section 118.124 of the Wisconsin Statutes, passed in 2023 and now first effective for the 2024-2025 school year, imposes a crime reporting requirement for Wisconsin high schools, operated by public school districts, including charter schools, and all private high schools participating in select Parental Choice programs. Guidance issued by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (“DPI”) on May 16, 2025, explains how schools comply with their legal obligations under the law. The guidance is found on the DPI webpage dedicated to the new law. The purpose of this article is to highlight the basics of the new law and identify important compliance requirements.
Under the new law, beginning with the 2024-2025 school year, a public high school or participating private high school must collect and maintain statistics on incidents of the following: homicide; sexual assault; burglary, robbery, or theft; battery, substantial battery, or aggravated battery (defined under § 940.19); arson; use or possession of alcohol, a controlled substance (defined under § 961.01(4)), or a controlled substance analog (defined under § 961.01(4m)); possession of a firearm in violation of § 948.605(2); or a violation of a municipal ordinance relating to disorderly conduct.
In addition, incidents of such types must be reported to DPI only if each of the following conditions are met: if:
- The incident occurred during school hours, a school-sanctioned event that occurred before or after school hours, or the transportation of pupils to or from school; and
- The incident occurred on property owned/leased by the school district in which the public high school is located or by the governing body of the participating private high school; or transportation provided by the public school, participating private high school, or school district; and
- A charge was filed or a citation was issued.
Annually, by July 31, each school board, operator of a charter school, or governing body of a participating private school, must submit a report that includes the statistics from each high school operated and the aggregate statistics of all. Annually, and prior to submission to DPI, each public high school shall report the statistics collected herein to the school board. Importantly, the report may not include the identity or identifying information of any pupil.
Importantly, DPI acknowledges that obtaining sufficient information to ascertain whether an incident of crime is subject to the reporting requirement may result in guesswork and speculation. Therefore, DPI emphasizes that schools must only make a good faith effort to comply. In doing so, school may rely on the following information:
- Notice from the DA or other legal authorities to school regarding adult criminal charges.
- Juvenile delinquency charges that permit public access to the court file (which, because of applicable confidentiality laws and resulting lack of accessibility, rarely will be reported).
- Routine disclosure of adult or juvenile municipal citations or forfeiture actions via an interagency agreement between a law enforcement agency and the school.
Districts, charter schools, and private schools should ensure administration are aware of this new crime reporting requirement, review and understand DPI’s guidance as a tool to effectuate compliance and consider entering into interagency agreements with law enforcement agencies to improve access to reportable information under the law.
If you have any questions about this article or any reporting obligations under Wis. Stat. § 118.124, please reach out to the author or any one of our attorneys in our school law practice group.
