Wisconsin — school discipline
- The lines the state draws
- Suspension authority and its length are stated together: "The school district administrator or any principal or teacher designated by the school district administrator may suspend a pupil for not more than 5 school days or, if a notice of expulsion hearing has been sent under par. (c) 4. or (e) 4. or s. 119.25 (2) (c), for not more than a total of 15 consecutive school days" for the grounds the statute lists. (§ 120.13(1)(b)2.) A mandatory suspension applies to firearms: "The school district administrator or any principal or teacher designated by the school district administrator shall suspend a pupil under par. (b) if the school district administrator, principal or teacher determines that the pupil, while at school or while under the supervision of a school authority, possessed a firearm, as defined in 18 USC 921 (a) (3)." (§ 120.13(1)(bm)) Expulsion carries no stated numerical cap except for a firearm: "The school board shall commence proceedings under subd. 3. and expel a pupil from school for not less than one year whenever it finds that the pupil, while at school or while under the supervision of a school authority, possessed a firearm, as defined in 18 USC 921 (a) (3)." (§ 120.13(1)(c)2m.)
- Offices and appeal bodies in these sources
- The statute names a state office and a two-step appeal chain: "The expelled pupil or, if the pupil is a minor, the pupil's parent or guardian may appeal the expulsion to the state superintendent. If the school board's decision is appealed to the state superintendent, within 60 days after the date on which the state superintendent receives the appeal, the state superintendent shall review the decision and shall, upon review, approve, reverse or modify the decision. The decision of the school board shall be enforced while the state superintendent reviews the decision. An appeal from the decision of the state superintendent may be taken within 30 days to the circuit court of the county in which the school is located." (§ 120.13(1)(c)3.)
No address, phone number, or email for the state superintendent's office appears in the captured section; that absence is a finding. - Sources last checked
- Sep 1, 2026
Reproduced from the state's own statutes quoted below: potentially relevant official sources, not a determination of which one governs any situation.
This page assembles what Wisconsin publishes in statute about K-12 school discipline. This is a baseline docket page: the governing sections, the lines the state draws, and the decision-makers and appeal route, quoted with dates. The full sections (the framework route by route, the four hoisted process rows, every stated timeline, the district delegation map, and records access) follow as the discipline layer deepens behind its breadth sprint; the change log states exactly what is not yet captured. Wisconsin assigns the classroom-conduct code itself to the school board: "Subject to 20 USC 1415 (k), the school board shall adopt a code to govern pupils' classroom conduct beginning in the 1999-2000 school year. The code shall be developed in consultation with a committee of school district residents that consists of parents, pupils, members of the school board, school administrators, teachers, pupil services professionals and other residents of the school district who are appointed to the committee by the school board." (§ 120.13(1)(a)) That delegation will anchor the full page's delegation map. Before a short suspension, the statute states a notice step: "Prior to any suspension, the pupil shall be advised of the reason for the proposed suspension." (§ 120.13(1)(b)3.) It also states a conference right: "The suspended pupil or the pupil's parent or guardian may, within 5 school days following the commencement of the suspension, have a conference with the school district administrator or his or her designee who shall be someone other than a principal, administrator or teacher in the suspended pupil's school." (§ 120.13(1)(b)4.) For a longer expulsion, the statute states a hearing right with counsel: "Prior to expelling a pupil, the school board shall hold a hearing. Upon request of the pupil and, if the pupil is a minor, the pupil's parent or guardian, the hearing shall be closed. The pupil and, if the pupil is a minor, the pupil's parent or guardian may be represented at the hearing by counsel." (§ 120.13(1)(c)3.) The statute also lets a school board delegate expulsion decisions to an independent hearing officer or panel for a school year at a time. (§ 120.13(1)(e)1.) For a student with an IEP or Section 504 plan, that layer lives on this site's Wisconsin special education page. District codes of conduct and the independent-hearing-officer track add procedural detail this page does not carry in full. Confirm applicability with the district and the agencies. All dates on this page are quoted from the sources, not a deadline calculation performed for you.
Source map
| Document | Location | Dates |
|---|---|---|
| Wis. Stat. § 120.13(1) (school government rules; suspension; expulsion) | docs.legis.wisconsin.gov | history not isolated to subsection (1) in this capture; retrieved Sep 1, 2026 |
| Wis. Stat. § 118.164 (removal of pupils from class), cross-referenced by § 120.13(1)(a) | cited in the section above | capture pending |
| Wis. Stat. § 119.25 (expulsion of certain pupils; option), cross-referenced by § 120.13(1)(b)2. and (d) | cited in the section above | capture pending |
| 18 USC 921(a)(3) (federal firearm definition incorporated by § 120.13(1)(bm) and (c)2m.) | cited in the section above | capture pending |
| Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction rules on pupil discipline | — | not located in this review; capture pending |
| District codes of classroom conduct adopted under § 120.13(1)(a) | each school board | never captured; the full page's delegation map will point at them |
Change log
Sep 1, 2026 · Baseline page created (discipline-layer breadth sprint). Captured first-party under recipe tools/recipes/wisconsin-discipline.json: Wis. Stat. § 120.13 from the Wisconsin Legislature's statute-text service, by curl, scoped to the full document because the section publishes no narrower address for subsection (1) alone. Findings recorded: (1) Wisconsin states a short suspension of up to 5 school days, extendable to 15 consecutive school days once an expulsion-hearing notice has been sent, plus a mandatory suspension and a mandatory minimum one-year expulsion specifically for firearm possession; (2) no numerical cap on an ordinary (non-firearm) expulsion is stated in the captured text; (3) the appeal route runs from the school board to the state superintendent (60-day review, decision enforced pending review) and then to circuit court within 30 days, with a parallel department-appeal and independent-hearing-officer track under § 120.13(1)(e) not fully carried on this baseline page; (4) no address, phone number, or email for the state superintendent's office appears in the captured text; (5) the classroom-conduct code itself is delegated to each school board; (6) §§ 118.164, 119.25, and the federal firearm definition at 18 USC 921(a)(3) are cited by the captured section but not yet captured separately. Not yet built, pending the deepening pass: sections 01–02 (framework, hoisted rows, timelines), the full text of the § 120.13(1)(e) independent-hearing-officer track, the district delegation map, and records access. Internet Archive captures: to be added. Reviewer: Carrie Schluter (review pending before publication). Corrections on the record in this log: hello@fieldassembly.net.