Wisconsin Coalition Urges Governor Walker to Improve Charter School Law
Wauwatosa, Wis.- The Wisconsin Coalition for Public Charter Schools urged Governor Scott Walker to include improvements related to funding equity and expansion of public charter schools in his upcoming budget.
In the letter written to Governor Walker on January 21, the coalition stated that since Wisconsin has one of the weakest public charter school laws in the country, currently ranked 38 out of 43, the state must significantly improve its public charter school law.
The coalition bemoans the inequitable funding arrangements in Wisconsin for charter schools. The letter cites a recent study from the University of Arkansas that found Wisconsin had the third highest gap in equal funding between public charter school students and their traditional public school counterparts at 41.1 percent, which translated into a gap of $6,887 per student.
These gaps are unconscionable. A child shouldn’t be worth less money because his or her parents make the choice of sending him or her to a public charter school, said Kristy Casey, director of the Wisconsin Coalition for Public Charter Schools. We urge Governor Walker to lead the states efforts to provide more high-quality public charter school options to Wisconsin families.
In addition to funding inequity, the coalition also takes up the issue of expansion of charters in the letter. In Wisconsin, the state only allows independent charter schools to open in the Milwaukee area. Independent charter schools are autonomous from school districts and are making major strides in closing the achievement gap. For example, 59 percent of independent charters received a report card rating of meeting expectations or above, versus 25 percent of the schools within Milwaukee Public Schools.
These are high-quality school options that need to be available throughout the state, said Nina Rees, President and CEO of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, one of the partners in the coalition. Independent charters continue to be the highest performing sector of schools available to families in Milwaukee and are closing the achievement gap for the city’s students.
The letter recommends that the state allow expansion by permitting charter school founding groups that are rejected by local school districts to appeal these decisions to an existing educational institutionsuch as the University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents or the Wisconsin Technical College System Board or a newly created state board dedicated to charter schools.
The other items mentioned in the letter that need Governor Walkers attention are removing caps on the University of Wisconsin-Parksides authorizing effort, allowing charters better access to empty district buildings, providing an expedited approval process for high-quality charters that want to replicate, allowing all public charter school teachers the option of participating in the state retirement system, and strengthening accountability for charter schools and charter school authorizers.
The Wisconsin Coalition for Public Charter Schools is a collaboration of organizations that support the growth of high-quality public charter schools in Wisconsin.
