(This story has been updated to add new information.)
A new bipartisan bill would boost funding to a single independent charter school operator, designating it a “demonstration public school” that could serve as a model to others.
The idea came from the Madison-based nonprofit One City Schools, which operates two charter schools serving students in 4-year-old kindergarten through eighth grade. Bill co-author Rep. Robert Wittke, R-Racine, said One City Schools would be best positioned to receive the designation. It is co-authored by Sen. Rachael Cabral-Guevara, R-Fox Crossing, and Rep. Shelia Stubbs, D-Madison. The bill was introduced in the Legislature this January.
Independent charter schools, which are not authorized by a public school district, are estimated to receive $12,369 in per-pupil funding this school year, according to the state Department of Public Instruction. The bill would provide an additional $6,863 per pupil to the demonstration school in the 2026-27 school year, bringing total funding to $19,232 per pupil.
For comparison, Wisconsin public school districts spent an average of $18,310 per pupil in the 2023-24 school year, according to the most recent data from the state Department of Public Instruction. The bill’s authors estimate that average district spending would rise to $19,232 per pupil this year when adjusted for inflation.
DPI data show public school districts received an average of about $13,248 in per-pupil funding during the 2023-24 school year, with the remainder covered through federal funds and other sources.
The increase for the demonstration school would be funded through the state’s general purpose revenue and not diverted from public school districts, according to a draft of the bill. The designation would last up to five school years, though it could be renewed for additional terms.
Why the need for a demonstration school?
Kaleem Caire, founder and CEO of One City Schools, said the legislation would promote new techniques to improve students’ academic achievement, especially among students of color.
To prove whether its methods work, the demonstration school would be required to participate in longitudinal studies through the Wisconsin Center for Education Research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The school must also share its practices with other schools.
“This is an opportunity to become the light at the end of the tunnel for public education in Wisconsin, to be the research and development for public education,” Caire said. “Charter schools were invented to be laboratories of innovation and to meet the needs of kids and communities, but most charter schools are not focused on research and development. Not enough schools are designed to actually help all of public education move forward. ”
What schools could qualify as a demonstration school?
A charter school would be eligible for the designation as a demonstration school only if it is authorized by the Universities of Wisconsin’s Office of Educational Opportunity, which would select the demonstration school. Wittke said lawmakers chose the Universities of Wisconsin as the sole authorizer because it already has the infrastructure to support new techniques and conduct studies through UW-Madison’s education department.
But Colleston Morgan, who runs the Milwaukee-based charter school advocacy group City Forward Collective, said the rule would exclude charter schools in Milwaukee because none are authorized by the Universities of Wisconsin. To launch and receive public funds, independent charter schools must secure a contract, or “charter,” from a designated authorizer, such as UW-Milwaukee, the Milwaukee Common Council or technical college boards.
The Universities of Wisconsin office currently oversees 10 of 33 independent charter schools in Wisconsin.
While City Forward has not yet taken an official position on the proposal, Morgan said he was concerned about the bill’s narrow scope.
“I’m appreciative of the fact that there’s interest on a cross-partisan basis in finding innovative ways to get more kids into high-quality schools,” Morgan said. “While it does draw attention to some of the continued funding disparities that exist between public schools and public charter schools, I’m not certain a one-school pilot is an approach that actually solves those structural systemic challenges.”
“There is more than one school in Milwaukee that could hold up similar levels of performance to what’s laid out here,” Morgan added. “I want to make sure that as legislators are considering this, they’re also looking holistically at the performance of all of our public charter schools.”
Why does One City have the edge?
Caire said One City approached the nonprofit Wisconsin Independent Charter School Advocates – of which he is a founder and board member – about involving other schools in the legislation, but members of the organization expressed interest in other priorities. Lawmakers also felt more comfortable in modeling the bill as a “small, experimental effort,” he said.
Wittke said a charter operator other than One City could technically receive the funding, citing Lincoln Academy in Beloit as another potential candidate. But One City is designed to meet the requirements laid out in the bill and already experimenting with new techniques to improve student learning, Wittke said.
For example, he said, One City partnered with the California-based company Project Read AI to develop an artificial intelligence tool that tutors students in literacy.
Results from last school year’s statewide Forward Exam show 19% of One City’s Black third through eighth graders met or exceeded state standards for English language arts, a 1 percentage point increase from the previous year. About 57% of Hispanic students met proficiency in the subject on last year’s test, over a 20 percentage point increase from 2023-24.
Statewide, about 18% of Black students and 33% of Hispanic students met or exceeded grade-level standards in English language arts last school year, about the same as 2023-24.
“Our hope is that we can show there are ways for the state to invest in experimental designs that could positively impact schools all across the state of Wisconsin,” Caire said. “But we need this demonstration bill supported. We can’t do the things we need and solidify our partnerships if we don’t have that kind of funding from the state.”
One City first opened as a preschool in 2015, later expanding as a charter school in 2018. The nonprofit opened One City Preparatory Academy for sixth, ninth and 10th grades in 2022 but stopped offering its high school grades mid-year due to staffing shortages.
Caire said One City has continuously relied on donations and private funds to meet costs not covered by state funding.
One City ended the 2024 fiscal year with a nearly $1.4 million deficit, according to the nonprofit’s 990 federal tax filing. The organization had $10.8 million in revenue and $12.2 million in expenses.
Kayla Huynh covers K-12 education, teachers and solutions for the Journal Sentinel. Contact: khuynh@gannett.com. Follow her on X @_kaylahuynh.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Bill proposes funding one charter school as pilot to improve academic achievement
Reporting by Kayla Huynh, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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