Budget
Brief: Charter Schools
Background:
Under most state charter school laws, a school may be chartered as
a legally autonomous public school, free from most local board and state
regulations, except those governing such matters as safety and civil
rights protections of students and employees.
In 1993, the Wisconsin Legislature created a pilot program that authorized
local school boards to establish charter schools with certain limitations.
The 1995-97 biennial budget (WI Act 27) expanded the law to allow an
unlimited number of charter schools and made various changes to the
way charter schools can be established in the Milwaukee public school
system. In 1997, the charter school law was expanded again by no longer
requiring charter school staff to be school district employees and by
greatly expanding guidelines for who may charter a school.
Governor’s Budget bill:
(1999 Assembly Bill 133)
- Statewide prohibited subjects: Make the reassignment of
staff, regardless of seniority, a prohibited subject of bargaining
when a district decides to contract with a person to operate a charter
school or to convert a private nonsectarian school to a charter school.
(Note: this item was removed from the budget as a non-fiscal policy
item).
- Testing: Require that all charter schools, including those
created by the City of Milwaukee, MATC or UWM, administer all state
assessments.
- Handicapped aids: Authorize the payment of handicapped education
aid to charter schools created by the City of Milwaukee, MATC or UWM.
Pay these aids, beginning in FY00, on a current-year basis (Note:
this item was modified by the JFC allowing DPI to perform audits on
these schools and to provide aid on a previous year basis just like
all other charter schools in the state).
- MPS: Repeal current law that provides that if the City of
Milwaukee contracts with a for-profit entity to operate a charter
school, the school is an instrumentality of MPS.
- Appeals process: Provide that if a petitioner applies to
a school board to establish a charter school and the school board
rejects or fails to act on the request, the petitioner may appeal
the decision to DPI.
WEAC Position:
The Wisconsin Education Association Council supports a charter school
law requiring that all charter schools be instrumentalities of a local
school district.
WEAC recommends that the charter school items relating to a new appeals
process be removed from the budget as non-fiscal policy.
Talking Points:
- Charter schools provide school districts with a unique opportunity
to establish innovative programs in Wisconsin’s public schools.
WEAC believes that public school employees should be full partners
in the establishment and implementation of charter schools.
- Public school employees should not be forced to sacrifice their
collective bargaining rights and their participation in the Wisconsin
Retirement System in order to participate in the establishment of
a charter school.
- The non-fiscal policy items relating to charter schools should
be removed from the budget
For Additional Information:
If you have any comments or questions, please contact Bob Burke in
the WEAC Government Relations Division at 800-362- 8034 ext. 254 or
by e-mail at burkeb@weac.org.
Posted March 22, 1999; Updated May 25.
