Charter School Funding Issues

Abstract

Although a great deal has been written about charter schools, rather little attention has been given to their funding. The first part of this article raises four current issues in the funding of regular public schools across the U.S. and shows how these issues carry over to the funding of charter schools. The second part explores four additional issues that have arisen in the funding of charter schools that go to the core identity of charter schools and the nature of the students they enroll. In both parts, extra attention is paid to developments in California, one of the most active charter school states.

Do charter schools receive their fair share of funding? School finance equity for charter and traditional public schools

“…First, in most contexts, small school districts receive a small district adjustment that provides additional funding to compensate for the high costs of operating small school districts (Baker & Weber, 2016;Krop & Zimmer, 2005;Sugarman, 2002). Charter districts can manipulate this policy to gain additional state funding.…”

Allocating Resources within a Big City School District: New York City after Campaign for Fiscal Equity V. New York

“…The district entered into a consent decree in 1992 that required greater equalization across schools. Some evidence suggests that the case has resulted in greater funding equity across schools, though not greater equalization of teacher experience (Sugarman 2002).…”

Community identity discourse and the heritage academy: colorblind educational policy and white supremacy

“…Charters free schools of many state regulations and statutes that allow the school to pursue the charter's goals (Nathan, 1996;Mesibov, 1997). Sponsoring agencies initially tended to be non-profit organizations but now include for-profit funding (Lacireno-Pauqet et al, 2002), including for-profit educational management organizations (Sugarman, 2002).…”

“…One of the major criticisms of charter schools, however, is their 'lack of innovation' (Mintrom, 2000), especially in terms of teaching practices and pedagogy (Bulkley & Fisler, 2003). Thus, the competitive nature of the charter school movement often results in unequal access to economic resources (Sugarman, 2002), and administrative changes (Lubienski, 2003).…”