Date of enactment: February 20, 2024
2023 Senate Bill 367 Date of publication*: February 21, 2024
2023 WISCONSIN ACT 95
AN ACT to amend 36.11 (3) (a) and 119.04 (1); and to create 36.11 (3m) and 118.58 of the statutes; relating to:
guaranteed admission to University of Wisconsin System institutions and requiring high schools to prepare class
rankings for certain pupils.
The people of the state of Wisconsin, represented in
senate and assembly, do enact as follows:
SECTION 1. 36.11 (3) (a) of the statutes is amended
to read:
36.11 (3) (a) The Subject to sub. (3m), the board shall
establish the policies for admission within the system and
within these policies each institution shall establish spe-
cific requirements for admission to its courses of instruc-
tion. No sectarian or partisan tests or any tests based upon
race, religion, national origin of U.S. citizens or sex shall
ever be allowed in the admission of students thereto.
SECTION 2. 36.11 (3m) of the statutes is created to
read:
36.11 (3m) GUARANTEED ADMISSION PROGRAM. (a)
In this subsection:
1. “College entrance examination score” means a
composite ACT examination score resulting from a sin-
gle test date.
2. “Home−based private educational program” has
the meaning given in s. 115.001 (3g).
3. “Virtual private school” has the meaning given in
s. 118.58 (1).
(b) The board shall establish a guaranteed admission
program under which an applicant for undergraduate
admission shall be admitted to the institution of the appli-
cant’s choice if the applicant satisfies the requirements
under this subsection.
(c) An applicant is eligible for guaranteed admission
to an institution if all of the following apply:
1. The applicant applies to the institution for admis-
sion as a first−year undergraduate student during the
applicant’s 4th year of high school or final year of enroll-
ment in a home−based private educational program in
this state or in a virtual private school.
2. Except as provided in par. (d), the applicant satis-
fies any of the following criteria:
a. The applicant is enrolled in a public, private, or
tribal high school in this state and the applicant is ranked
in the top 10 percent of the applicant’s high school class,
as determined under s. 118.58.
b. The applicant is enrolled in a home−based private
educational program in this state, or in a virtual private
school and the applicant is a resident of this state, and the
applicant achieves a college entrance examination score
that places the applicant in the national 90th percentile
ranking or higher.
c. The applicant has been designated as a finalist in
the National Merit Scholarship Program administered by
the National Merit Scholarship Corporation or has
* Section 991.11, WISCONSIN STATUTES: Effective date of acts. “Every act and every portion of an act enacted by the legislature over the governor’s
partial veto which does not expressly prescribe the time when it takes effect shall take effect on the day after its date of publication.” − 2 −2023 Wisconsin Act 95 2023 Senate Bill 367
achieved an equivalent designation under a successor
program or by a successor organization.
3. The applicant has submitted a complete applica-
tion by the regular decision application deadline, except
that an applicant to the University of Wisconsin−Madi-
son shall submit the application by the early action dead-
line.
4. The applicant has completed any range of courses
that the board has established as required for admission
for all applicants, including those who do not apply under
this subsection.
(d) An applicant is eligible for guaranteed admission
to the University of Wisconsin−Madison only if the
applicant satisfies any of the following criteria:
1. The applicant is enrolled in a public, private, or
tribal high school in this state and the applicant is ranked
in the top 5 percent of the applicant’s high school class,
as determined under s. 118.58.
2. The applicant is enrolled in a home−based private
educational program in this state, or in a virtual private
school and the applicant is a resident of this state, and the
applicant achieves a college entrance examination score
that places the applicant in the national 98th percentile
ranking or higher.
3. The applicant has been designated as a finalist in
the National Merit Scholarship Program administered by
the National Merit Scholarship Corporation or has
achieved an equivalent designation under a successor
program or by a successor organization.
(e) If an applicant applies for admission to more than
one institution, the applicant is eligible for guaranteed
admission under this subsection to only one institution,
as designated by the applicant but subject to par. (d).
(f) An institution may verify information provided by
an applicant or appearing on an applicant’s high school
transcript in determining an applicant’s eligibility for
guaranteed admission under this subsection.
(g) An institution may revoke an offer of admission
the institution extended to an applicant under this subsec-
tion if any of the following applies:
1. The applicant is not granted a high school diploma
prior to the institution’s scheduled enrollment date.
2. The applicant engages in academic misconduct, or
the applicant experiences significantly declining grades
after the application is submitted, to an extent that would
justify, under the institution’s admissions policies, revok-
ing an offer of admission extended to an applicant who
has not applied for admission under this subsection.
3. The applicant misrepresented to the institution the
applicant’s class rank, college entrance examination
score, or status as a finalist in the National Merit Scholar-
ship Program.
(h) This subsection does not guarantee an applicant
admission to any specific program offered by an institu-
tion or to any specific college, school, or functional
equivalent within an institution.
SECTION 3. 118.58 of the statutes is created to read:
118.58 Class rankings. (1) In this section, “virtual
private school” means a private school in which all or a
portion of the instruction is provided through means of
the Internet, and the pupils enrolled in and instructional
staff employed by the school are geographically remote
from each other.
(2) If a school board, operator of a charter school, or
governing body of a private school or tribal school oper-
ates a high school that includes grades 11 and 12, the
school board, charter school operator, or governing body
shall, for each high school that includes grades 11 and 12,
prepare a class ranking of pupils enrolled in the high
school as of the class’s completion of grade 11 if there are
at least 15 pupils in the class. Pupils shall be ranked on
the basis of academic achievement and the sole criterion
for ranking pupils shall be the pupil’s grade point aver-
age.
(3) (a) Subject to par. (b), each class ranking under
sub. (2) shall identify those pupils who rank in the top 5
percent of their high school class and those pupils who
rank in the top 10 percent of their high school class. The
class ranking may also identify the class rank of pupils
who do not rank in the top 10 percent of their high school
class.
(b) If a high school’s class enrollment is at least 15
but less than 20 pupils, the school board, operator of the
charter school, or governing body of the private school or
tribal school shall identify the highest ranked and 2nd
highest ranked pupils in the class using the ranking
method under sub. (2). For purposes of par. (a) and sub.
(4) and s. 36.11 (3m), the highest ranked pupil shall be
considered to be in the top 5 percent of the pupil’s high
school class and the 2nd highest ranked pupil shall be
considered to be in the top 10 percent of the pupil’s high
school class.
(4) After completing the class ranking required under
sub. (2), a school board, operator of a charter school, or
governing body of a private school or tribal school shall
do all of the following:
(a) Notify each pupil ranked in the top 10 percent of
the pupil’s high school class that the pupil is ranked, as
applicable, in the top 5 percent or in the top 10 percent of
the pupil’s high school class.
(b) For each pupil notified under par. (a), include that
the pupil is ranked, as applicable, in the top 5 percent or
in the top 10 percent of the pupil’s high school class on
the pupil’s high school transcript as of the pupil’s com-
pletion of grade 11.
(5) This section does not apply to a virtual private
school.
SECTION 4. 119.04 (1) of the statutes, as affected by
2023 Wisconsin Act 12, is amended to read:
119.04 (1) Subchapters IV, V and VII of ch. 115, ch.
121 and ss. 66.0235 (3) (c), 66.0603 (1m) to (3), 115.01
(1) and (2), 115.28, 115.31, 115.33, 115.34, 115.343, − 3 − 2023 Wisconsin Act 95 2023 Senate Bill 367
115.345, 115.363, 115.364, 115.365 (3), 115.366,
115.367, 115.38 (2), 115.415, 115.445, 118.001 to
118.04, 118.045, 118.06, 118.07, 118.075, 118.076,
118.10, 118.12, 118.124, 118.125 to 118.14, 118.145 (4),
118.15, 118.153, 118.16, 118.162, 118.163, 118.164,
118.18, 118.19, 118.196, 118.20, 118.223, 118.225,
118.24 (1), (2) (c) to (f), (6), (8), and (10), 118.245,
118.25, 118.255, 118.258, 118.291, 118.292, 118.293,
118.2935, 118.30 to 118.43, 118.46, 118.50, 118.51,
118.52, 118.53, 118.55, 118.56, 118.58, 120.12 (2m),
(4m), (5), and (15) to (27), 120.125, 120.13 (1), (2) (b) to
(g), (3), (14), (17) to (19), (26), (34), (35), (37), (37m),
and (38), 120.137, 120.14, 120.20, 120.21 (3), and
120.25 are applicable to a 1st class city school district and
board but not, unless explicitly provided in this chapter
or in the terms of a contract, to the commissioner or to any
school transferred to an opportunity schools and partner-
ship program.
SECTION 5.0Initial applicability.
(1) HIGH SCHOOL CLASS RANKINGS. The treatment of
ss. 118.58 and 119.04 (1) first applies in the 2024−25
school year.
(2) GUARANTEED ADMISSIONS. The treatment of s.
36.11 (3) (a) and (3m) first applies to applications for
admission for the 2025−26 academic year.