Charter: Charter School Instructional Staff License and Permit

The emergence of charter schools required the legislature to look at licensing procedures for charter school staff. In 1993, Wisconsin Act 16 allowed school boards to request approval from the state superintendent to establish up to 2 charter schools in thes chool district. The state superintendent (John Benson at the time) was to ensure that charter schools were established in no more than 10 school districts. The Act also required that all instructional staff of charter schools located in the school district hold a license or permit to teach issued by the department.

In accordance with the Act, the following proposed rules sought to define the term "instructional staff" and required each school district board to ensure that all instructional staff of charter schools held a department issued licensed or permit to teach at the level and in the subject of their assignments or a charter school instructional staff license or permit. The proposed rules created a charter school instructional staff license and permit and specifed how to apply and what criteria must be met in order to obtain the license and permit.

(Report to the Legislative Council Rules Clearinghouse, May 12, 1994)

What follows here is the SECTION 1. PI 3.03 (10) Wisconsin statute under which Madison Middle School 2000 opened and operated.

PI. 3.03 (10) CHARTER SCHOOL INSTRUCTIONAL STAFF LICENSE AND PERMIT.

(a) Charter school instructional staff license.

1. issued by the department and shall have the same renewal interval as the existing license. A license issued under this paragraph authorizes the holder to perform any instructional duty in a charter school established under s. 118.40, Stats.
2. The district administrator or a designated official of the employing school district may request that a license be issued under this paragraph on behalf of the individual receiving the license.

(b) Charter school instructional staff permit.

1. An individual who does not hold a current license or permit issued by the department to teach in a specific subject area or grade level or does not hold a charter school instructional staff license under par. (a) may be employed as a member of the instructional staff in a charter school if he or she obtains a charter school instructional staff permit from the department.
   1. A district administrator or designated official of the employing school district requests the permit following a search for a qualified, licensed individual.
   2. The individual receiving the permit has a bachelor's degree in the subject that he or she is assigned to teach or in assigned to teach or in a related field, or has formal proof of mastery in a trade that he or she is assigned to teach.
   3. Except as specified under subd. 4, the individual receiving the permit receives 6 credits of training or the equivalent each school year that he or she is employed in a charter school. These credits shall be part of an approved license program in the assigned teaching area.
   4. An individual who holds a terminal degree in his or her field and who is a full-time employee of an approved teacher preparation institution in Wisconsin or an individual who has formal proof of mastery in a trade and who is a full-time employee of a Wisconsin technical college district board is exempt from the requirement under subd. 3.
      e. A permit holder's practice shall be coordinated, directed, and inspected by a person who is licensed by the department to teach the subject or trade that the permit holder is teaching.
2. An individual may renew permit under this paragraph if he or she meets the requirements under subd. 1.
   

SECTION 2. PI 8.001 (2m) and (6m)are created to read:

PI 8.001 (2m) "Charter school" means a school established under s. 118.40, Stats.

(6m) "Instructional staff" for the purposes of charter schools, means all professional employees who have as part of their responsibility direct contact with students or with the instructional program of the school. Instructional staff includes, but is not limited to, teachers, librarians, pupil services staff, and administrative staff who supervise license staff.

SECTION 3. PI 8.01 (2) (a) is renumbered PI 8.01 (2) (a) 1.

SECTION 4. PI 8.01 (2) (a) is created to read:

PI 8.01 (2) (a) 2 a. Each school district board shall ensure that all instructional staff of charter school located in the school district hold a department issued license or permit to teach at the level and in the subject of their assignments or a charter school instructional staff license or permit issued under PI 3.03 (10).

b. The district administrator or designated official of the employing school district may request a charter school instructional staff license or permit be issued as specified under s. PI 3.03 (10) to an instructional staff member to work in a charter school in an assignment outside of his or her department issued license or permit.

c. A charter school instructional staff license shall allow the holder to perform any instructional duty in a charter school if the holder volunteers for that assignment and may be issued to an individual as specified under s. PI 3.03 (10).

d. The liability immunity provisions of ss. 115.31 (5) (b), 118.126 (2), 118.257, and 118.295, Stats., shall apply to charter school instructional staff.

The proposed rules contained in this order shall take effect on the first day of the month commencing after the date of publication in the Wisconsin Administrative Register, as provided in s. 227.22 (2) (intro.), Stats.
Dated this 7th day of July, 1994

John T. Benson, State Superintendent