NCA Application December 2022 Update
It is with a heavy heart that I share this announcement with you all: the NCA application was denied by the Wisconsin Office of Educational Opportunity Advisory Council. Another disappointing piece of news is the Biden Department of Education notified the States that they were not going to issue nor approve charter school grants for the 2023 year. Without a grant for the planning year, it is nearly impossible to launch a new charter school unless there is either independent wealth with the ability to self-fund or there are personal connections to wealthy donors.
At this time, there is no appeal process. NCA recently received a formal denial document as to why the denial, to confirm the verbal denial we received prior. We requested the rubric document the week of November 8th that was promised, but our efforts were to no avail. The main reason given to us for the denial was that the schools in the region that we identified were not bad enough to offer a choice. You be the judge.
Proficiency levels taken from the Wisconsin DPI website.
*Nicolet is a high school only district while the others are K-12.
The real losers affected by this news are the school families who want another option for their children, as well as the professionals who work in the school systems. The interest from the community for NCA was off the charts positive and NCA could have easily filled the school with a waiting list! The overwhelming community support of our NCA characteristics, including the Hillsdale Classical Curriculum, the four (4) diverse pathways, school uniforms, restoring discipline, and parental involvement should be a glaring hint for the local school districts to embrace.
So where do we go from here? One available next step for NCA is to reapply for charter school status to the Wisconsin Office of Educational Opportunity Advisory Council. An applicant can reapply from scratch if they so choose. At this point in time, however, this path is not viable as the political climate and pressure is not in favor of the school choice movement; the November midterm elections bared this out.
A realistic path forward is currently being worked on, and we please ask you to stand by as the NSCA board pivots from this news and reconvenes with an alternative action plan.
To the parents... Remember that you have autonomy over your children's education. Public government schools are just that--publicly-funded by the taxpayers--so hold the administration and school board members accountable.
Closing out, we want to sincerely thank the school families who wanted to enroll your children and the teachers and administrators who volunteered to help with the planning year along with applying to work at NSCA. Your time and talent is valued.
Stay tuned for upcoming exciting updates!
God Bless,
Cheryle Rebholz & NCA Board of Directors