The Larger Issue of Charters

If you are curious about the growth and direction of charter schools within the city of Chicago I can give you some data on their proliferation. According to an Oct. 4, 2011 Chicago Tribune article fully 12% of all CPS students attend a charter. That's a significant number.

The thrust of the article dealt with an examination of the financial footing of charters. The Civic Foundation, here in Chicago, reported that some charters fared better than others. One of the problems in terms of reporting on charter finances is the fact that different accounting methods are used by the various charters. The result is akin to comparing different brands of apples to one another.

What I found most intriguing, and I see as the larger issue, is the situation regarding the amount of money that charters have at their disposal. The Civic Foundation reported on the low operational amounts of money that charters have available to spend on each pupil. According to the study, "Charters receive around $7300.00 per pupil from the state, about half as much as neighborhood schools in CPS."

The point is that most charters are clamoring for more funds. That makes sense. Finally, towards the end of the article it was stated that "some large charter networks are able to overcome these financial hurdles with private fundraising."

And there, in a nutshell, is the problem. It's not that these charters are doing something wrong by fundraising. If local and state governments can see that the charters are going out and raising money, on their own, why would the government agencies want to provide more funding? The answer is that governments will be quite willing to allow them to do so while keeping low the amount of funds provided by the public sector.

As I've said before, in other blog postings, too many government agencies are ignoring their responsibilities of providing for the 'common good.' This is just another way of moving towards the privatization of public education.

Dick