Privatization News: Appleton Newspaper Calls for Rejection of Independent Charters
Appleton Post Crescent Editorial: Reject independent charter schools
January 14, 2014
The latest attempt to privatize public education in Wisconsin comes in the form of independent charter schools — charter schools that operate outside the authority of public school districts.
Our state already has 243 charter schools — for example, the Appleton Area School District has 15 of them — but, except for two designated areas, they’re all operated by public school districts. The exceptions are in Milwaukee, where they can be run by the city of Milwaukee and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and in Racine, where they can be run by UW-Parkside. Those two cities also have voucher school programs, in which tax dollars are used to send students to private schools.
But a bill in the state Legislature that had a lengthy public hearing last week would allow charter schools all across the state to be operated by UW System schools, technical college district boards and Cooperative Educational Service Agencies, or CESAs, which are regional education cooperatives.
It would also eliminate district-run charter schools, although districts could convert their charter school into “magnet” schools and keep any federal funding they get.
On the surface, there are two major problems with public money going to independent charter schools.
Though these new schools would have oversight by public entities, there’s not the same level of oversight and accountability that there is with publicly elected school boards.
And to fund the independent charter schools the state already has, 1.5 percent of each public school district’s state aid is taken away. Adding independent charter
