AB 549

Under current law, school boards may enter into contracts with individuals,

groups, businesses, or governmental bodies to establish charter schools, which

operate with fewer constraints than traditional public schools. Current law also

permits the University of Wisconsin (UW)-Milwaukee, UW-Parkside, Milwaukee

Area Technical College, and the city of Milwaukee to establish charter schools

directly or to contract for the operation of charter schools. This bill makes various

changes to the manner in which charter schools are established, eliminates

instrumentality charter schools, and authorizes school boards to establish magnet

schools that also operate with fewer constraints than traditional public schools.

Charter schools; independent authorizers

A charter school established by an entity other than a school board is known as

an independent charter school. Under current law, the only entities that may

establish an independent charter school are UW-Milwaukee, UW-Parkside,

Milwaukee Area Technical College district board, and the city of Milwaukee. This

bill expands the entities that may establish independent charter schools

(independent authorizers) to include all of the following:

1. All four-year UW institutions.

2. All two-year UW campuses.

3. Cooperative educational service agencies (CESA).

4. Technical college district boards.

Under current law, an independent authorizer may establish and operate a

charter school or enter into a contract with an individual or group to operate a charter

school. This bill eliminates the authority for an independent authorizer to directly

establish and operate a charter school. The bill also prohibits an independent

authorizer from contracting with a person to operate a charter school in a school

district in which at least 80 percent of the number of public schools that received the

highest level of performance on the latest school accountability report are located,

unless the person first provides the school board of the school district an opportunity

to contract to operate the proposed charter school.

Current law includes certain restrictions on where an independent authorizer

may establish a charter school. For example, the city of Milwaukee and the

Milwaukee Area Technical College are authorized to establish charter schools only

in the Milwaukee Public School District. Under the bill, each of the following

independent authorizers is restricted to establishing charter schools only in the

following geographic locations:

1. A four-year UW institution in the county in which the institution is located

or in an adjacent county.

2. A two-year UW campus in the county in which the campus is located or in

an adjacent county.

3. A CESA within the boundaries of the CESA.