Madison School District to Absorb One City Charter?
The taxpayer funded Madison School Board Special Meeting:
One City Schools, Inc. submitted two Initial Applications on August 14, 2026, requesting conversion of its existing charter schools from authorizer status under the University of Wisconsin Office of Educational Opportunity (OEO) to instrumentality charter schools under MMSD. On Wednesday, the Board of Education will determine whether to invite the applicant to submit a Detailed Proposal in accordance with Board Policy 10,000.
Although One City submitted two distinct initial applications corresponding to different grade bands, the administration regards this submission as a single, unified application for grades 4K through 8
Key Operational & Policy Considerations
● Timeline Waiver: MMSD standard policy outlines a two-year timeline for charter opening (target SY 2028–29). The applicant requests a waiver to open as an MMSD charter in SY 2027–28, noting they are an existing operating school.
● Facility Location & Jurisdiction: The main campus at 1707 W. Broadway sits on the municipal boundary of Madison and Monona but within the Monona School District attendance area. District administration and counsel must confirm the parcel’s jurisdictional status before executing the final contract.
● Financial Alignment & Budgeting: Under Policy 10,000, new charter schools receive per-pupil funding based on the DPI open enrollment transfer rate. Both schools currently operate with significant philanthropic subsidies ($2.1M–$2.5M annually) and require joint financial modeling with the Assistant Superintendent of Business Services to establish a sustainable budget under MMSD’s formula.
The University of Wisconsin Office of Educational Opportunity (OEO) first authorized One City Elementary School in 2018 and reauthorized it in 2023 for another five years, through the end of the 2027-28 school year. We recently submitted an application to the OEO to reauthorize our middle school, One City Preparatory Academy. This school was first authorized in 2022-23, and its charter contract ends on June 30,2027. We applied to extend the contract for another five years: from 2027-28 through 2031-32. However, the Director of the OEO knows we are applying with MMSD to have our schools authorized by you and supports this. The OEO’s deadline to approve our reauthorization application is April 30, 2027, whileMMSD’s deadline is March 30, 2027. So MMSD’s decision would come first. If MMSD approves authorizing both of our charter schools, then OEO would not proceed with making a decision on approving our contract with them.
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Instrumentalitystatus would make One City Elementaryunambiguously a Madison public school: operated inpartnership with One City Schools, Inc., accountable tothe Madison Board of Education, staffed by Districtemployees, and collaboratively integrated into Districtspecial education, student services, transportation,nutrition, data, and professional learning infrastructure.It would also give MMSD the practices andpartnerships that have made One City Elementary andPreparatory Academy leaders in academic growth inWisconsin and Dane County, with student populationsthat have not traditionally achieved such outcomes.This is a win for MMSD, One City, and the City ofMadison. HOW THE SCHOOL DIFFERS FROMEXISTING DISTRICT SCHOOLS One City Elementarybrings the District four things it does not operate atscale. First, a two-generation model. One City worksclosely with parents and extends wrap around supportto our scholars’ families. Family programming, adultlearning, and household support are built into theschool, not bolted onto it. Second, substantially moreinstructional time. One City Elementary operates alonger instructional day and school year than the traditional calendar, the single most underutilized best practice in American public education, used for years with the students for whom it matters most. We have had to suspend it beginning in 2026-27 due toresource constraints; MMSD could bring it back if thedesire and resources are there.Third, a Community Ecosystem Network. One City coordinates academic, health, enrichment, mentoring, business, and civic partners around each scholar as a designed system, not a set of referrals. MMSD would gain our world-class tutoring and tutor training model, which aligns fully with the literacy model our teachers use daily, our Anji Play model in 4K, and our integrated partner ships and advocacy support. Fourth, an early-literacy practice reaching far beyond our own building. Through Project Read AI and the UFLI Upper Midwest Training Hub, One City supports thousands of classrooms and educators across Wisconsin, the Midwest, and beyond. That is District-scale capacity within a small charter school.
HISTORY WITH AUTHORIZERS The Office of Educational Opportunity (OEO) first authorized One City in 2018 and reauthorized it for five years in 2023. One City Preparatory Academy was authorized in 2022 and is undergoing reauthorization, with a decisionexpected in April 2027. Before that, One City’s leadership met with MMSD Superintendent Jennifer Cheatham, but we didn’t have sufficient support to advance our proposal for an MMSD-authorized charter. We are returning because circumstances, leadership, evidence, and relationships have changed, and because Superintendent Gothard and Mr. Caire have concluded that partnership serves Madison’s children better than parallel operation. The OEO is aware of and supportive of One City pursuing charter school status with MMSD. WHAT ONE CITY AND MADISON GAIN, STATED PLAINLY It would be less than candid to call this a one-way benefit. One City would gain special education and student services capacity we cannot build alone; back-office, transportation, and nutrition infrastructure; and a funding structure that lets our leadership focus on instruction rather than raising millions a year to keep the doors open. Madison would also gain some measure of property tax relief, with MMSD recapturing state and federal per-pupil aid formore than 350 children.
Single-year proficiency rates remain well below state averages. We do not explain that away, and we would not want the Board to hear it first from someone else. Five conditions bear on it: (a) ourscholars’ academic starting point when they enroll; (b)attendance and tardiness rates, shaped in part by our inability to provide transportation for families who cannot; (c) high rates of family mobility; (d) difficulty retaining our most experienced educators, who are regularly outcompeted on pay and benefits by neighboring districts; and (e) a revenue structure that requires us to raise roughly $5 million each year, much of it during the school year, which prevents the kind of upfront investment a school needs to make before students arrive. We raise these not as explanations but because three of them are precisely what District authorization would address. MMSD already provides transportation. District compensation and benefits would let us compete for the educators we currently lose and give MMSD access to the highly effective educators we currently employ.
Related: University of Wisconsin Office of Educational Opportunity.
One City Schools // Kaleem Caire // The aborted Madison Preparatory Academy IB Charter School.
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