Wisconsin just passed legislation on Charter Schools in July 1993, as the Governor had urged in his January 1993 address. This legislation authorizes a school board, on its own initiative or by a petition meeting certain conditions, to request approval from the state superintendent to establish one or more Charter Schools in the school district. A Charter School would be exempt from all laws governing public schools except the requirement to participate in the state's pupil assessment program and to be included in the school district's annual school performance report. The Charter Schools are allowed to be established in no more than ten school districts. The students enrolled in a Charter School also would be included in a school district's membership for state aid purposes.
If a Charter School replaces a public school in whole or in part, the school must give preferences to any pupil residing within the attendance area of the former school. Charter Schools also must be nonsectarian in their programs, admissions policies, employment practices, and other operations. Charter Schools may not charge tuition, discriminate in admission, or deny participation in any program or activity on the basis of a person's sex, race, religion, national origin, ancestry, pregnancy, marital or parental status, sexual orientation or physical, mental, emotional, or learning disability.
A school board, upon its own initiative and with the state superintendent's approval, may contract with an individual or group to operate a Charter School. A school board may apply to the state superintendent to establish a Charter School upon the receipt of a petition signed by at least 10 percent of the teachers employed by the school district or by at least 50 percent of the teachers employed at one school. The school board must, upon the receipt of the state superintendent's approval and within 30 days of receiving the petition, hold a public hearing on the petition to consider the level of employee and parental support for the establishment of the Charter School. The school board may grant the petition after the public hearing. A school board may convert all of the public schools in the district to Charter Schools if a petition is signed by at least 50 percent of the district's teachers and the board provides alternative public school attendance arrangements for pupils who do not wish to attend or are not admitted to a Charter School.
School boards are required to give preference in awarding contracts for Charter Schools to those schools that serve children at risk. A school board is prohibited from contracting with a Charter School outside of its district or for the conversion of a private school into a Charter School. The contract also must:
A school board may revoke a contract with a Charter School if the board finds that the pupils enrolled failed to make sufficient progress toward achieving state goals or that the Charter School violated the contract, failed to comply with generally accepted accounting standards, or violated the law authorizing the establishment of Charter Schools. The employees of a Charter School are authorized to be eligible for certain benefits under the Wisconsin retirement system.
Some of the other provisions of the charter law include the following:
For an update on Charter Schools issues in Wisconsin, see "Wisconsin Update," from Policy Briefs, "Charter Schools Update" (Report 2, 1994).
Posted on March 6, 1995
URL: http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/envrnmnt/go/93-2WI.HTM