How to Withdraw Your Child From Public School in Wisconsin (2026): Step by Step

How Withdrawal Works in Wisconsin

Wisconsin establishes a home-based private educational program through a single state filing, not a conversation with your district. You file the PI-1206 statement of enrollment with the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, and once that statement is on file your program exists under state law. You then notify your child's public school so local attendance tracking stops. There is no approval process, no portfolio, and no testing tied to getting started.

The home-based private educational program -- sometimes called an HBPE -- is the legal structure Wisconsin uses for families who teach their own children. Filing the PI-1206 is what creates the HBPE. Everything else -- the required subjects, the 875 hours, the sequentially progressive curriculum -- follows from the program being on file. None of those are part of the withdrawal itself.

Compulsory school age in Wisconsin runs from 6 through 18. If your child is in that range and currently enrolled in a public school, withdrawing means replacing that enrollment with a home-based program. The moment your PI-1206 is on file and your child is out of the public school, the HBPE is your legal alternative to public school attendance.

Step 1: File the PI-1206 Statement

The PI-1206 is a short online form available through the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction at dpi.wi.gov. It records that your home-based private educational program exists and notes the number of children enrolled. Filing it is the step that legally establishes your HBPE. You do not need the district's permission, you do not submit it to a school official, and you do not wait for approval. You file it with the state and receive a confirmation.

The annual deadline is October 15. If you are starting in September at the beginning of a school year, file it by that date. If you are pulling your child mid-year -- in January or February, for example -- file the PI-1206 before you begin home instruction, not after. Wisconsin law requires the statement to be on file before your program is operating, so the filing comes first.

Keep the confirmation the DPI sends after you file. It is your documentation that the HBPE exists for the year. Some families print it; others save it digitally. Either way, store it somewhere you can find it quickly if it is ever needed.

The PI-1206 does not require you to describe your curriculum or list your planned subjects. It asks for the program name, your address, and the number of children enrolled. We cover the curriculum and hours requirements in full in our Wisconsin homeschooling guide. Before you file, a free reading assessment gives you a picture of where your child's reading skills stand so you can start at the right level from day one.

Step 2: Notify the Public School

With your PI-1206 filed, send your child's public school written notice that your child is withdrawing to a home-based private educational program. The PI-1206 goes to the state DPI; it does not go to your district and does not automatically notify the school. The written notice to the school is what closes the loop locally and stops attendance tracking.

A short letter or email to the school office is enough. State that your child is withdrawing as of a specific date and that they will be enrolled in a home-based private educational program under Wisconsin Statutes Section 118.165. Keep a copy of the notice and note when you sent it. If the school asks for more information, your DPI confirmation of the PI-1206 filing is all you need to show.

For a mid-year withdrawal, file the PI-1206 first, then send the school notice close to the same day so there is no gap in the timeline. Do not notify the school before your PI-1206 is on file. The HBPE needs to exist before you tell the school the child is leaving for one.

While you are in contact with the school, request any records you want. Immunization records, transcripts, and any assessments from the public school belong to the family and are worth collecting at the point of withdrawal rather than chasing down later.

Step 3: Keep Records and Know Your Duties

Keep your PI-1206 confirmation and your withdrawal notice together in one folder. These are your documentation that the withdrawal was done correctly. Wisconsin does not require you to submit curriculum plans, work samples, or test results to any government body, so these two documents are the record that matters for the withdrawal itself.

After the withdrawal, your ongoing obligation is the HBPE itself. Wisconsin requires a sequentially progressive program of fundamental instruction in six required subjects -- reading, language arts, mathematics, social studies, science, and health -- for at least 875 hours per year. You set the schedule, choose the curriculum, and keep your own records of the instruction. You do not send those records to the district or the state. Use our homeschooling guide to plan what to teach and how to structure the year from the start.

Wisconsin does not set a minimum number of hours per subject, but the 875 total must be distributed across all six required areas, not concentrated in one or two. A school year of roughly 170 days works out to about five hours of instruction per day to meet the minimum. Many families exceed it once daily instruction is underway.

The sequentially progressive requirement means your program should build on itself over time. Your teaching should follow a logical order from simpler to more complex as the year progresses. You do not need a formal published scope and sequence to satisfy the requirement, but what you teach in month six should connect to and build on what you taught in month one.

Special Education and Common Snags

If your child has an Individualized Education Program, the special education services the public school provides end when your child withdraws to a home-based program. The mandatory IEP entitlement does not carry over. Wisconsin allows districts to offer services to private school students with disabilities on a voluntary basis, but those services are not guaranteed and are not the same as what an IEP requires the public school to provide. Contact the district's special education office before withdrawing if your child receives IEP services and those services are part of their education plan.

The most common point of confusion for families new to Wisconsin's system is where the PI-1206 goes. It goes to the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, not your local school district. Many families assume they file locally because local filing is how most states handle home school enrollment. In Wisconsin, the filing is state-level. Filing with the district by mistake does not establish your HBPE. Go to dpi.wi.gov and file through the DPI's online system.

A second common question is whether Wisconsin notifies the district after you file the PI-1206. The DPI maintains records of filed statements, but the separate written notice to your child's school is still the right way to stop attendance tracking and close out the public school enrollment. Do not skip the school notice on the assumption that the DPI handles that step for you.

A Note from Homeschool Teacher Guide: What This Really Means for You

Wisconsin is a one-form withdrawal once you know the form goes to the state. File the PI-1206 with the Department of Public Instruction, send a short note to your child's public school, and keep both. The October 15 date is the annual deadline, but if you are pulling your child mid-year, just file before you begin. After that, keep your own records of the 875 hours and the six subjects, since Wisconsin trusts you to maintain them rather than submit them. Grab your child's records on the way out, and our Wisconsin homeschooling guide covers the subjects and hours in full.