SB 423

Under current law, the Office of Educational Opportunity in the UW System,

the City of Milwaukee, the chancellor of an institution in the UW System, a technical

college district board, the county executive of Waukesha County, the college of

Menominee Nation, and the Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwa community college may

contract with a person to operate a charter school. A charter school authorized by one

of these entities is commonly known as an independent charter school.

Currently, the Department of Public Instruction pays a different per pupil

amount to an independent charter school authorized by a tribal college than it pays

to other independent charter schools. Under current law, the per pupil payment to

an independent charter school authorized by a tribal college is based on the per pupil

academic base funding the federal Bureau of Indian Education provides to tribal

schools under federal law. In the 2020-21 school year, the per pupil amount paid to

an independent charter school authorized by a tribal college is $8,719. The per pupil

amount paid to an independent charter school authorized by an authorizer other

than a tribal college is set by law. In the 2020-21 school year, the per pupil payment

amount to an independent charter school authorized by an authorizer other than a

tribal college is $9,165.

This bill eliminates the different per pupil amount paid to independent charter

schools authorized by a tribal college. Under the bill, beginning in the 2021-22

school year, the Department of Public Instruction pays the same per pupil amount

to all independent charter schools.