One issue that stands out about charter school funding is that facilities assistance is not given to charter schools. Charter schools are not allotted funds specifically for facility purchase, lease, or maintenance. They have to use money from their per pupil allotment to pay these costs. In traditional schools per pupil allotments are used for instructional purposes and the schools use bond issues and tax revenue from the capital projects fund to pay for their physical plant. Charter schools legally do not have this means to raise funds for their buildings. A report from the Center for Education Reform at http://www.edreform.com/_upload/CER-CSFundingGap2005.pdf details this gap in charter school funding.
This limit on charter school funding raises issues of equity and quality. If charter schools are not given the means to raise funds for their physical plant that traditional public schools are, they are at a disadvantage in providing and maintaining buildings for their students. The Supreme Court has ruled that charters are public schools so they should have a legal means to raise capital funs just like traditional schools. This funding issue also is an issue of quality. If charter schools cannot afford to maintain their buildings or renovate the old buildings that they can afford to purchase to use as schools, they can be unsafe for children to attend. This funding gap has not gone unnoticed. In North Carolina a lawsuit is being filed on behalf of 7 charter schools arguing that the charter schools be able to request construction funding. Details of the case can be found at http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090921/POLITICS/90921035.
In some areas of the country such as the District of Columbia, public schools claim that charters have unfair funding advantage. This viewpoint can be found at http://docs.google.com/gview?a=v&q=cache:Y8wBHBQ078IJ:www.saveourschoolsdc.org/pdf/ChartersSchools_vs_PublicSchools.pdf+charter+schools+vs+public+schools&hl=en&sig=AFQjCNGFWWOY-zLjHvCsOGF2S_hqwjhHSg. According to this comparison by Save Our Schools DC, charter schools get the same per pupil funding agreement that the DC public schools get and a per capita facilities allowance of nearly $2400 per student that is not determined by physical plant expenses resulting in a windfall. It will be interesting to sort out all of this out as I do my research. I have a feeling the DC charter schools get additional funding because they are so close the Washington, DC political machine.
Monday, October 12, 2009
Sunday, October 11, 2009
charter schools
After doing some preliminary research on the use of property taxes to fund public schools I found this is a very compelling issue not only in Indiana but around the country. However, I did not feel there was enough accessible material out there to write a term paper on the subject. I have decided to switch the topic of my term paper to charter schools. If there is enough material, I would like to narrow my focus to the funding of charter schools since school finance is my area of interest.
Charter schools naturally deal with choice. It gives children who attend underperforming schools the option of attending a publicly funded charter school which may have a different approach to teaching. Proponents argue that by providing choice charter schools will make all schools better because they create competition between public schools and charter schools.
Charter schools pose an issue of quality. Does the performance of children at charter schools warrant the use of public funds to finance them? A report by Caroline Hoxby on New York City charter schools suggests they do. This report can be found at http://www.nber.org/~schools/charterschoolseval/how_NYC_charter_schools_affect_achievement_sept2009.pdf.
If charter schools are improving the education of some children, then a question of equity comes into play. Charter schools argue that they are not receiving the same level of funding as public schools (about 21% less nation wide) and they deserve equal funding since they are also a public entity. There are two good reports on this issue of funding equity that can be found at http://epaa.asu.edu/epaa/v10n34.html and http://www.edexcellence.net/doc/Charter%20School%20Funding%202005%20FINAL.pdf. The second report is 153 pages so it needs to be perused to decide what is useful in it.
Using public funds to pay for charter schools also brings forward an issue of efficiency. Public school superintendents argue that charter schools are draining their corporations’ funds in a way that limits their capability to be competitive especially in urban districts where there is a large concentration of charter schools. There are several articles in the Indianapolis Star in which Indianapolis School Superintendent Eugene White express this concern. Overall, charter schools present a broad array of issues in which funding seems to be a prevalent one. I hope to write my paper on charter schools with a focus on funding.
Charter schools naturally deal with choice. It gives children who attend underperforming schools the option of attending a publicly funded charter school which may have a different approach to teaching. Proponents argue that by providing choice charter schools will make all schools better because they create competition between public schools and charter schools.
Charter schools pose an issue of quality. Does the performance of children at charter schools warrant the use of public funds to finance them? A report by Caroline Hoxby on New York City charter schools suggests they do. This report can be found at http://www.nber.org/~schools/charterschoolseval/how_NYC_charter_schools_affect_achievement_sept2009.pdf.
If charter schools are improving the education of some children, then a question of equity comes into play. Charter schools argue that they are not receiving the same level of funding as public schools (about 21% less nation wide) and they deserve equal funding since they are also a public entity. There are two good reports on this issue of funding equity that can be found at http://epaa.asu.edu/epaa/v10n34.html and http://www.edexcellence.net/doc/Charter%20School%20Funding%202005%20FINAL.pdf. The second report is 153 pages so it needs to be perused to decide what is useful in it.
Using public funds to pay for charter schools also brings forward an issue of efficiency. Public school superintendents argue that charter schools are draining their corporations’ funds in a way that limits their capability to be competitive especially in urban districts where there is a large concentration of charter schools. There are several articles in the Indianapolis Star in which Indianapolis School Superintendent Eugene White express this concern. Overall, charter schools present a broad array of issues in which funding seems to be a prevalent one. I hope to write my paper on charter schools with a focus on funding.
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