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Presented by Russ Allen,
WEAC Research and Professional Development Consultant
The Wisconsin Education Association Council and the Wisconsin Federation of Teachers supported the original charter school legislation because we believe that innovative and creative charter schools might provide new and successful ways to educate children. However, from the beginning we have had concerns that the charter school concept would be used as a means to evade general and reasonable standards for public schools. We also opposed giving public agencies other than locally elected school boards the power to create charter schools because of concerns for accountability.
Finally, we have been against granting school boards or other public entities the power to contract with private companies to operate charter schools, or to convert private schools to charter status. This seems to be the direction we are moving in this state, especially in Milwaukee, even though converting private schools to public schools, or contracting with a private school to operate a charter school, do not appear to be steps towards introducing creativity and innovation into public education.
Many of our other concerns are discussed in the Legislative Audit Bureau report, including the following:
WEAC and WFT support this recommendation and encourage the Legislature to enforce the existing law which is intended to guard against selection practices which may benefit certain groups of students, while discriminating against others. In doing so, factors other than race should be considered, including social class, gender, and student abilities.
WEAC and WFT believe that students in charter schools should be required to pass the HSGT. Students in the traditional public schools will be required to pass these tests. Ultimately, charter schools should be accountable for student achievement, and we see no justification for excluding students from this test. The LAB suggests that the Legislature may wish to allow UW campuses and technical colleges statewide to establish charter schools (p. 7).
WEAC and WFT believe that any expansion of chartering authority is unjustified. Public Agenda reminds us that Americans are skeptical of many changes in education because many new programs often end up being unsuccessful. Proponents of charter schools have argued that by eliminating state rules and regulations the result would be creativity, innovation, and success. Based on what we currently know about charter schools, the public’s general skepticism toward educational reforms seems justified. In time, charter schools may prove to be successful, perhaps even innovative; however, there is no valid and reliable evidence at this time to show this is the case. We know almost nothing about the effects of charter schools on the students who attend them or on students who remain in the existing district schools.
Granting other UW campuses and technical colleges in Wisconsin the authority to establish charter schools also is unjustified. In the case of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, their planned charter schools will be operated by a for-profit corporation, the Edison Project. When UWM was given chartering authority, there was the expectation on the part of many that UWM would make use of its considerable talents and expertise to actually create and operate a charter school(s). The decision by UWM to contract with a private corporation is hardly evidence of creativity, innovation, or leadership. There is no reason to expand chartering authority to the UW system or state technical colleges, if they simply are going to contract with private companies to run the charter schools.
WEAC and WFT support these recommendations because we feel that current levels of accountability need to be strengthened. Perhaps another audit by the LAB in two years would be warranted. Even better, there should be an annual evaluation of the entire charter school program by one of the state universities or DPI, similar to the evaluation of the SAGE program by UWM.
In short, we should have an independent agency to evaluate charter schools using standardized measures which are valid and reliable. Anecdotal evidence is insufficient! We should be looking at such factors as school and class sizes and teacher quality. We also need to know more about the nature and adequacy of programs offered to students and the consequences for students who attend schools which are granted immunity from most state rules and regulations. We also need information about the impact of the charter school(s) on the existing public schools in the community.
The experiences of other states also are relevant to any discussions about accountability. In California, a recent evaluation of 150 charter schools by UCLA expressed concerns about the overall lack of accountability and the selection practices of charter schools. Likewise, many leaders in Arizona, after experiencing numerous abuses associated with their charter school laws, are demanding tighter controls. In particular, many are having second thoughts about granting public dollars to private companies for charter school startup costs. Legislators in Massachusetts also have concerns about private corporations not having to engage in competitive bidding in order to receive a charter school contract.
WEAC and WFT believe the Legislature needs to investigate the funding of charter schools in Milwaukee. We have two basic questions about funding: (1) Why are charter schools in Milwaukee funded at the level of $6,100 per pupil (an amount equivalent to MPS’s per pupil shared costs), which is greater than the amount used to fund choice schools, which this year received $4,900 per pupil (an amount equivalent to MPS’ per pupil state aid)? Thus, Milwaukee charter schools currently consist entirely of K-6 students, which are much less costly to educate than secondary level students; however, they are founded as though they educated a K-12 population. (2) What is the justification for having MPS lose dollars when charter schools are created in Milwaukee?
Charter school policy has not resulted in much creativity or innovation. Therefore, it seems that the Legislature needs to ask what is being accomplished under current policy. Wisconsin appears to be moving in the direction of funding two systems of “public” education. One system is required to meet higher and higher standards, including more accountability--in which there is now consideration of more teacher testing, teacher evaluation based on student assessment results, and students denied diplomas if they are unable to pass a rigorous high school graduation test. The second system, one of charters (and Milwaukee choice schools), is free from most rules and regulations, with weak or almost nonexistent levels of accountability. This doesn’t make any sense to us, and it wouldn’t make sense to the people of Wisconsin if they were aware of these inconsistencies.
Posted February 10, 1999