Consortium Charter Schools, or Multi-District Charter Schools (MDS)
Definition:
A consortium charter school, or multi-district charter school, is a district-authorized charter school that partners with other school districts to provide instruction to students outside of their own district.
Glossary:
Definition of other relevant terms:
- Partnering District or Resident District. The school district that is sending its own students to another district’s charter school.
- Authorizing District. The school district who enters into a contract with a governance board to create and oversee the charter school. The authorizing district also would, in this case, enter into contracts with one or more partnering districts to provide instruction to those districts’ students.
- Consortium Districts. Refers to all of the districts, i.e., the authorizing and partnering districts, that are parties to the consortium agreement.
How It Works:
The basic structure of a student's enrollment in a multi-district charter school works as follows:
- The student remains a student in the partnering district and the partnering district is responsible for reporting ALL of their data.
- Typically, the partnering districts place the student under the charter school’s school code, within their own Student Information System (SIS). An iteration of the authorizing district’s school code will be assigned to each of their partnering districts.
- The authorizing district shares with partnering districts all necessary data elements including the courses, student attendance, administered assessments, and grades, but the partnering district must enter this information into the SIS.
- Students Enrolled in a Consortium/Multi-District Charter School Authorized by a Non-Resident District through a 66.0301 Contract
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A consortium/multi-district charter school is a charter school within a school district whose authorizing school district contracts with other school districts to provide instruction within the charter school to students outside of their own district. It includes both brick-and-mortar district charter schools and virtual charter schools. A 66.0301 agreement is the contract between the authorizing district and the partnering districts allowing students to attend the charter school as a purchased service instead of an enrollment transfer.
- The student remains a student in the partnering district, and the partnering district is responsible for reporting ALL of their data.
- Typically, the partnering districts place the student under the charter school’s school code, within their own student information system (SIS). An iteration of the authorizing district’s school code will be assigned to each of their partnering districts.
- The authorizing district shares with partnering districts all necessary data elements, including the courses, student attendance, administered assessments, and grades, but the partnering district must enter this information into the SIS.
Related Links:
Open-Enrolled Students, Students Under Contract
Click the links below to navigate to different sections of this page:
Enrollment Considerations
The charter school must carry out its own enrollment process, in which you have an open application process, a lottery and/or acceptance date, and the creation of a waitlist if need be. Once students are accepted into the charter school, enrollment can begin. Refer to the WRCCS enrollment guidance for more information.
| Students who live in the authorizing district | Students who open enroll into the authorizing district | Students who live in the partnering districts | |
|---|---|---|---|
| District Enrollment | Student is already enrolled in authorizing district. |
Student must apply to and enroll into authorizing district through Public School Open Enrollment. |
Student remains enrolled in partnering district. |
| Charter School Enrollment | Student must apply to the charter school directly and enroll in the charter school. |
Student must apply to the charter school directly and enroll in the charter school. See NOTE* below. |
Student must apply to the charter school directly and enroll in the charter school, following all policies, without barriers. See NOTE** below. |
| Consortium Contracting | N/A | N/A | Must create a contract in which the authorizing district bills the partnering district for the purchase of this student’s instruction. |
| Data Reporting | Authorizing district reports data. See Reporting Considerations below. | Authorizing district reports data. See Reporting Considerations below. | Authorizing district must provide the partnering district with the charter school’s school code and report all data to the partnering district. See School Code Considerations below. |
*NOTE: DPI has a requirement that students residing outside of any of the consortium districts need to open-enroll into the charter school's authorizing district in order to enroll in the charter school.
**NOTE: Admission and lottery requirements for the charter school apply to all students, including students who live in a partner district. Additionally, preferences in enrollment cannot be given to students who live in a partner district and the charter school cannot guarantee or limit the number of seats available in the charter school by partner district.
School Code Considerations
Authorizing districts will need to acquire a new school code from DPI for any newly established charter school and an iteration of the school code will be assigned to each of their partnering districts. Partnering districts will need to add the charter school to their SIS as an option in which to place students. The creation of a new school or adding schools to your SIS may require support hours from your vendor. It will also require the work of your local administrator to enter the school information and transfer the students.
Below is a list of what fields the schools need to enter into the SIS:
- District
- School
- Dist Code
- School Code
- School Agency Key / Ed-Fi Number
- Low and High Grades
If you are a partnering district, and you use the affiliated school codes, then WISEdata reporting for the students attending those schools would be submitted under those school codes. That reporting would include enrollments, attendance, roster, special ed, discipline, etc. The students would display in WISEdata Portal in the same way that students currently do in your traditional schools.
Reporting Considerations
Partnering districts remain accountable for their students attending the charter school.
- The district report card for the participating district is comprised of all students in the district, i.e., it will include the students attending the consortium charter school. The students from participating districts are included in their district’s report card.
- Students are enrolled into the charter school and not just receiving services from a third-party vendor.
- School codes will be established for the school in each consortium district. The school will appear as a school option in each consortium district in WISEdata, DPI directory, etc.
- Partnering districts will count their students enrolled in the charter school as residents for state aid and revenue limit membership in the Pupil Count PI-1563, and will report them as enrolled in and attending the school in their SIS.
- Data from charter school students is used to generate a school report card and federal ESSA reports for the charter school. A single report card will be created for the charter school including all consortia students. Data that appears in the report card includes state test results, attendance, course and program participation, and graduation.
For a complete and detailed list of the data captured in the fall and spring snapshot, visit the WISEdata Snapshot Preparation Guidance webpage, Preparation and Timeline section.
Staff Data
Roster and WISEstaff both require reporting on staff data.
Roster data is a collection within WISEdata of course information, data about students and teachers associated with the courses, and the location of where courses are taught.
For staff data, the local person IDs are used to tie a staff person to a district in WISEid and is associated with a specific district. The partnering districts could either assign a local staff person to the courses (e.g. staff person responsible for monitoring their resident students). Another option is for the partnering districts to create a local person ID for the staff that are actually teaching the courses (these IDs are loaded to WISEid and used by both WISEstaff and WISEdata).
WISEstaff data collection facilitates the collection of agency staff demographic and assignment data. Generally, the hiring agency (typically the authorizing district) will report the staff to the WISEstaff application. Decisions on who should report can be found on the WISEstaff Reporting Guidance and Training webpage.
ESEA
The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) is federal education legislation that provides funding to school districts under several grant programs. Since the partnering district is accountable/responsible for their students, partnering districts will need to consult with the authorizing district to determine needs of students, staff, and families. If the partnering district chooses to have the authorizing district provide services related to this funding, then the s. 66.0301 agreement should outline this purchased service.
The ESEA Roles and Responsibilities for Multidistrict charter Schools document
explains the roles and responsibilities to implement ESEA services in multidistrict charter schools.
Special Education Considerations
From an accountability perspective, the participating districts maintain responsibility/accountability, including FAPE, for all students participating in the consortium. You may also need to make adjustments in your special education reporting tool, such as SEEDS or GoIDEA (formerly OASYS), so that you can place a student into another school.
The partnering district must list the charter school as the school of placement. The partnering school remains the FAPE district, the fiscal agent, and reporting district for the purposes of funding and accountability.
Funds under IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) are provided to the partner district for their students enrolled in the charter school. If the authorizing district will be providing services related to this funding, then the s. 66.0301 agreement should outline this purchased service.
For general virtual charter school special ed guidelines, refer to the following pages:
- FAQ about the Rights of Students with Disabilities in Public Charter Schools under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
- WRCCS folder of resources for special education in charter schools
Economically Disadvantaged Status
Every public school student in every grade in every public school, must be queried each year to find economically disadvantaged (ED) status. It is allowable for either the authorizing or partnering district to run students enrolled in the charter school through Direct Certification in a partial enrollment run, if the district participates in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and/or Special Milk Program Pricing, With Free Milk Option.
If the partnering district does not participate in the NSLP or and/or Special Milk Program Pricing, With Free Milk Option, the authorizing or partnering district can identify economically disadvantaged status by an alternate mechanism, such as the alternate household income form.
For more information, please see the Economically Disadvantaged Status data element page.
Graduation Considerations
All districts need to agree on graduation requirements for the charter school so that all of the graduating students of the charter school either:
- also meet all minimum requirements of all districts, or
- have permission from their district to meet the charter school’s requirements instead of their own district’s requirements and can still be awarded a district diploma.
Exiting the Consortia
Districts are encouraged to revisit and evaluate the consortium agreements each year. If it is determined that a partner district will no longer be participating in the consortium, the authorizing district should email charterschools@dpi.wi.gov. The email should include the effective data and partner district email.
Virtual Charter Schools Consortia Only
When greater than 50 percent of a virtual charter school’s (VCS) enrollments are open enrollment students, the VCS students that are from the authorizing district (which would include all of the open enrollment students) may not be included in that district’s report card, per statute.
The open enrollment percentage is calculated for the whole school, but then only district accountability for the authorizing district’s VCS students is suppressed. The partnering districts remain accountable for their own students.
Each consortium district is accountable for its own VCS students, and its VCS students are included in its district report card.
For school-level accountability, a single VCS report card is created that includes all the school’s
students. On DPI’s report card sites, this report card is listed under the authorizing district.