Tensions have been running high among members of an agency pushing for a local charter school and the Madison Metropolitan School District Board of Education. 

The Urban League of Greater Madison, a local minority advocacy group, opposed the school board’s December decision to prevent the academy’s proposed opening of Madison Preparatory Academy in 2012.

Still, ULGM spokesperson Laura DeRoche-Perez said one board member proposed establishing the school in 2013, when the current collective bargaining situation for teachers would have expired. Controversy has surrounded the charter school proposal in part because Madison prep wanted to bring in non-unionized teachers in order to better serve underrepresented youth in the community, but MMSD has suggested doing so would be impossible because the district is under contract to hire only unionized teachers. 

“There are three board members who would support the decision, and any other board member could vote for 2013,” DeRoche-Perez said. “We will continue to reach out and clarify the language, look at the proposal and ask questions.”

MMSD superintendent Daniel Nerad said although the motion by one board member to vote on establishing the school in 2013 died because it did not get a second motion, Madison Prep has suggested they would like to open the school in 2013, if not now. 

Nerad also said contracts for employees such as teachers end June 30, 2013, and Madison Prep said there would be more flexibility at that time in terms of hiring.

“When we were planning with Madison Prep, we discussed delaying,” Nerad said. “They didn’t want to because they wanted to start working with kids as soon as possible.”

He said because the school would now be a non-instrumentality charter school, it is a much more separate idea in many ways, including hiring. Teachers at Madison Prep could not be school district employees.

DeRoche-Perez said opposition to Madison Prep stems from people who resist change and also from the issue becoming unnecessarily tied up with state politics. She said it is not clear why people oppose Madison Prep, arguing ULGM is not anti-union, but pro-children.

She also said Madison Prep would have to pay fees to ULGM for back-office work and finance management.

Charter schools like Madison Prep pay fees like this depending on the school, state law, whether the school is the first of its kind and if it is part of an organization with other charter schools, DeRoche-Perez said.

Nerad said the board offered an amount he believed the program could be funded at, but it was not at the level requested by Madison Prep.

He also said in Madison Prep’s budgeted plan, the district would pay a management fee to Madison Prep, and the board was not sure why.

DeRoche-Perez said Madison Prep was an initiative of ULGM, but is now growing into its own identity. As soon as paperwork is completed, she said it would be an entirely separate organization.

“If we look back in Madison’s history, there is a lot related to trying to address the achievement gap issue, and the subsequent pushback either from district or community members who don’t like the solution,” DeRoche-Perez said.

Marj Passman, vice president of the Madison Metropolitan School Board, said despite contention surrounding the prep school, ULGM is important in terms of community outreach.

Passman said the parents must be reached out to, and ULGM helps those parents help their children.

“If parents are engaged in education, the child will succeed,” Passman said. “In education, it’s the only given we have.”