Wisconsin Assembly Bill 697

This is the bill that nearly 800 people*will be supporting tomorrow in Madison. Some said that when the court found against WIVA in December - and ruled that all of the virtual schools in Wisconsin were illegal - that the thing to do was not to piss and moan but to work with the lege and change the law.

Presto!

I can't claim any credit; all my wife and I have done is call our reps and .. well ... piss and moan to them. I certainly didn't expect anything to happen so quickly but here it is.

Analysis by the Legislative Reference Bureau

Under current law, any person who teaches in a public school, including a
charter school, must hold a teaching license or permit issued by the
Department of Public Instruction (DPI). This bill specifies that if a
pupil attends a virtual charter school, a person who provides educational
services to the pupil in the pupil's home, other than staff of the virtual
charter school, is not required to hold a teaching license or permit. The
bill defines a virtual charter school as a charter school in which
instruction is provided primarily through means of the Internet and the
pupils and teachers are geographically remote.

Current law provides that a charter school established by a school board
must be located in the school district; an independent charter school
established by the city of Milwaukee, the University of
Wisconsin-Milwaukee, or the Milwaukee Area Technical College must be
located in the city of Milwaukee; and an independent charter school
established by the University of Wisconsin-Parkside must be located in a
unified school district that is located in the county in which the
University of Wisconsin-Parkside is situated or in an adjacent county.
This bill provides that these restrictions do not apply to virtual charter
schools.

In general, current law provides that only pupils who reside in the school
district in which an independent charter school is located may attend the
charter school. This bill exempts virtual charter schools from this
restriction.

Current law provides that if the University of Wisconsin-Parkside
establishes a charter school, the state must pay a sum to the unified
school district in which it is located to reimburse the school district
for the reduction in state aid resulting from the loss of pupils to the
charter school. This bill provides that this payment does not apply if the
charter school established is a virtual charter school. The bill provides
that if a pupil who is not a resident of this state attends a virtual
charter school established by or under contract with a school board in
this state, the school board must charge the pupil tuition in an amount
equal to at least the amount used for the per pupil state aid adjustment
under the Open Enrollment Program.

Finally, the bill clarifies that a pupil may attend a charter school in a
nonresident school district through the Open Enrollment Program. For
further information see the state and local fiscal estimate, which will be
printed as an appendix to this bill.

Please call or write your representative and let them know what you think about AB697. If you don't live in Wisconsin, send your good wishes our way, if you are so inclined.



* 971 people that have responded 'yes' to the evite invitation as of 8/15/08 at 13:30.