Charters, Part II

At the outset, I will tell you that I am not an authority on the manner in which charters are financed. One of the major reasons I'm not an expert is because there are so many different charters and their contracts with different agencies are written differently. The point here is that ambiguous language, within the contract, may lead to hardships for the charter school in terms of getting their hands on the funds they are entitled to.

That being said here are some major points concerning the funding of charters. Depending on the study you research, you will find that public charters get anywhere from 61% to 70% of the funding that conventional public schools receive.

What the various states provide to public charters, as compared to traditional public schools, varies wildly from state to state. A charter in Missouri receives 99% of what its counterpart public school obtains while in New Hampshire a charter takes in a paltry 37% of what a public school is able to garner. Given such a monetary restriction, how can such a charter really be effective?

Charters receive public funds just like a neighborhood school. Charters cannot, by law, charge an admission fee nor can charters have access to local bond measures. Imagine, then, if a charter wants to expand in size. That lack of a bonding measure creates a real dilemma. Charters can, and do, receive funds through gifts and donations.

As you can see charters, for the most part, are not getting the same funds as public schools. As the trend continues towards creating more charters, I see the funding issue as becoming quite problematic.

As local, city, and state governments 'off load' (aka get rid of) schools to chartering agencies, given the current climate of these government agencies to shed debt, I have real concerns that any of these government agencies will be in a hurry to assist charter schools who have critical funding needs.

I see the day coming when disputes will arise between traditional public schools and charter public schools over the issue of garnering funds from the same and various governing bodies.

Will the day come when charters demand to be funded at the same rate as traditional public schools? Will charters bring suit on this matter? Will the day come when public charters will generate additional needed funds through an admission fee? Generally speaking, what will happen to the quality of charter education if the charters find themselves in a financial bind? I can tell you, in the short history of charter schools, some have 'gone under' for financial reasons.

I raise all of these issues because having different types of public schooling systems seems likely to create some very severe funding problems going forward.

Thanks,
Dick