A MA ballot measure that would lift the current cap on charter schools received high marks from Brookings Institution researchers last week. The resolution also cites a study arguing that charter school expansion in low-income communities mirrors the predatory lending practices that led to the subprime mortgage crisis.
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Five groups applied to either open or expand charter schools in MA in July.
“Even as charter enrollment means a decline in net Chapter 70 aid – that is, the money that follows students to charter schools minus the state reimbursement to school districts for those students – it also represents a significant increase in per-pupil spending”, Eden wrote.
In San Diego County, school districts continue to challenge charter schools and where they can locate in court.
The waiting list of students wanting to study at charter schools in MA now stands at almost 33,000, according to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
After squandering $30 million from the federal government, Ohio’s politically influential charter school industry is being rewarded with an additional $71 million from the U.S. Department of Education. Why?
Families for Excellent Schools, a nonprofit based in NY, has given almost $6 million to the group fighting for charter-school expansion, Great Schools Massachusetts.
Voters will decide on Question 2 on November 8.
The Senate Education Committee of the Tennessee General Assembly requested in February that the comptroller look into whether charter schools were receiving correct funding from their districts. The researchers found that the effects of charters in rural and suburban areas were not positive. However, charter school students may not perform as well on standardized tests, which factor heavily in the letter-grade system. Alabama was the 43rd state to pass a charter school law.
“What we find distressing, and intellectually dishonest, is when these preferences (for traditional schools) are confounded with evidence about the effectiveness of charter schools”, the Brookings researchers said.
“Charter schools already receive what most would describe as a fair share of local funding – there is no good reason for advocates to try and divert local funds from traditional public schools when charter schools already have access to more local funds”, Nordstrom said. So when the editorial board claims to be “surprised” by the information released on how charter schools operate and spend their money, I am left scratching my head, because educators have been pointing out the inequality between charter and public schools for quite a while and no one has chosen to listen. They are open to all students and use random lotteries when the number of applicants exceeds the number of available openings.
The report outlines that state law says charter school funding “shall be based on one hundred percent (100%) of state and local funds received by the LEA, including current funds allocated for capital outlay purposes, excluding the proceeds of debt obligations and associated debt service”. “Only a small percentage of trustees are parents or students at the school”.
Some proponents of taxpayer-funded charter schools are outspoken critics of public education. But this argument wrongly presumes that education dollars are owned by schools and the state. “I think there’s a majority onboard that will stand behind him on his efforts to charter off some of our more hard schools to handle”. “That’s wrong”, the “No on 2” website said.
“Are we also funding our traditional schools to what they’re needing?”
Opponents describe the charter school network, which now serves about 4 percent of the state’s students, as creating a “separate and unequal” system. That funding arrives on top of regular state aid, which charter supporters argue is still being used to educate children in public charter schools.
This Epañola based Charter school is atypical of what people think of when they envision a charter.
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“State law, State Board of Education rules, and Tennessee Department of Education policies do not now provide clear and complete definitions of formula components districts use to calculate charter school funding”, the report said.
