2009-10 Yearbook - School Management Services

The staff members of non-instrumentality charter schools are not employees
of the school district or chartering authority. Thus, they are not eligible to
participate in the Wisconsin Retirement System and are not members of the local
teachers union.
G: Funding
Most of the money that funds K–12 education in Wisconsin comes from state
funds raised primarily through state income and sales taxes. The funds remaining
come from other sources, including property taxes, federal aid, and local fees.
In schools chartered by a school district, the contract or charter determines the
amount of funding for the charter school each year. In some cases, the district’s
per-pupil expenditure follows the student as he or she moves from a regular
public school to a charter school. In other cases, the charter school functions with
less money. This can happen if a charter school shares an existing district facility,
and shares management costs with the school district, participates in district
services such as co-curricular activities, special education, psychological services,
and food service. The school district counts charter school students on its regular
count for state aid purposes.
In schools chartered by the city of Milwaukee, UW–Milwaukee, MATC, or
UW–Parkside, the amount of funding is determined by state law. These non–
school board sponsored/independent charter schools are funded from a
proportionate reduction in state school aids from all 425 school districts. For the
2009-2010 school year, the amount is $7,775 per pupil for the independent charter
schools and is paid directly to the operator of charter schools. The total amount is
based on the number of eligible students attending the charter school. Several
charter schools have received grants and gifts from community, state, and national
organizations, foundations, businesses, and private individuals.
H: Grants
Since 1996, the Wisconsin DPI has received Public Charter Schools Program
(PCSP) grants from the U.S. Department of Education. In 1996, the DPI received
a three-year grant for more than $6.4 million. In 1999, the amount received was
more than $8.75 million for three years, and for the years 2002-2005, more than
$27.7 million was awarded. The DPI received $52.5 million for the 2005-2009
four-year period. The DPI has been authorized to receive $85.95 million from
2009-2014. Ninety-five percent of the grant funds are awarded in sub-grants to
charter schools. These federal grant funds may be used for planning and
implementation activities such as professional development, assessment
strategies, curriculum development, and investments in technology. In some
cases, a reasonable amount may be used in the renovation of facilities to bring
them up to health and safety codes. Grants may generally be used to defray costs
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