The Trump administration wants the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction to return more than $20 million in federal COVID-19 relief funds provided to private schools during the pandemic.
A September 2025 audit report by the federal Office of Inspector General found Wisconsin “improperly approved” funds from the Emergency Assistance to Nonpublic Schools (EANS) program for 184 nonpublic schools.
The audit says Wisconsin “did not verify certain information in nonpublic schools,” including verifying the applications meet requirements including accreditation and nonprofit status.
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DPI spokesperson Chris Bucher disputed the audit’s findings. He said the department worked with School Choice Wisconsin and the Wisconsin Council of Religious and Independent Schools make the EANS program work.
And the plan was “explicitly approved by the U.S. Department of Education,” in 2021.
Bucher said throughout the process, DPI acted transparently, followed federal guidance and focused on supporting students with the greatest need.
“Claims that these actions were improper overlook both the approval we received and the flexibility states were allowed to utilize under this program,” Bucher said.
Ashley Czaja, president of School Choice Wisconsin, said private schools had an “unprecedented partnership” with DPI during the pandemic to administer the EANS program in Wisconsin.
“We view EANS as a highly successful blueprint for future partnerships between the DPI and Wisconsin’s private school community,” Czaja said. “Many states returned much of their EANS money because they were not able to distribute it effectively, whereas Wisconsin had some of the best outcomes.”
The audit found one school, Carter’s Christian Academy in Milwaukee, received $838,829 but was ineligible because it also received a federal PPP loan of $202,987 on March 12, 2021.
“We informed Wisconsin of the issue and Wisconsin advised they began the process of requesting the school return the funds that were improperly expended,” according to the audit.
DPI disagreed with the audit’s findings in written comments. Regarding Carter’s Christian Academy, the state wrote that it “did not have access to resources that it could use to independently verify whether a nonpublic school received a PPP loan, so it relied on the signed certifications of the applicants.”
“Funds to this school were fully recouped, which is consistent with how the DPI has handled similar situations with public school districts,” Bucher said. “We stand by the approach we took and the integrity of this process.”
Carter school officials did not return phone calls or emails to WPR.
The Milwaukee school has 270 students and receives about $3.2 million in taxpayer funding annually, according to DPI.
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