Independent Charter Schools: Siphoning off Public Money to Private Interests
“Will the Legislature allow statewide expansion of charter schools and how will that affect my local public school?”
This question is one I hear so often particularly in communities where people are worried about the future of their small local schools.
Last fall, the Senate Education Committee debated Senate Bill 76, which takes away local control by requiring locally elected school boards to replicate charter schools when the charter performs 10% better then local district for 2 years in a row. It also allows certain charter schools to opt out of the state’s teacher evaluation system.
Private charter school companies lobbied hard for complete independence from state oversight but SB 76 did not go that far. School officials and citizens expressed serious concern about how expanding charter schools would impact public schools.
Money to run independent charter schools comes from school aid set aside for all public schools. The more money going to independent charter schools means less money for all public schools. For small cash-strapped districts, the expansion of independent charter could be devastating.
Sixty percent of Wisconsin’s public school districts are rural. As the amount of state school aid shrinks, small schools are