Funding Missed

Opportunities:
The gap between charter and traditional school funding

Ashley London
EDU 6050
Spring 2017
Overview
• What are charter schools?
• How are charter schools funded?
• Charter vs. traditional school funding
• Why charter schools need more funding
Why is this important to me?
• Past & future charter school teacher
• Innovative approach
• Passion for closing achievement gap
What are charter schools?
• Charter schools are unique public schools that are allowed the
freedom to be more innovative while being held accountable
for advancing student achievement. (National Alliance for
Public Charter Schools)
• A charter school is a term for a school that receives government
funding but operates independently of the established public
school system in which it is located, and in some cases
is privately owned. (International Socialist Review)
• Charter schools are privately run, publicly funded schools with no
local oversight. They are funded by diverting money from local
school districts. (Save Our Public Schools)
How areare charter schools funded?
How
charter schools
funded?
 Understanding
charter school
financing requires
a basic grasp of
• Amount of money traditional school
Base to cover basic financing more
educational needs generally.
Funding of students

• Finances programs
Categorical such as special
education and
Funding summer school

(Miron & Urschel, 2010)

How are charter schools funded?
• Charter schools, like traditional public schools, are funded by
taxpayers with public money. (Resmovits, 2014)
• Charter schools receive money from private philanthropy,
foundations, and non-profits. (Resmovits, 2014)
• Charter schools can receive federal funding for which their
students are eligible, such as Title I and special education
money. Federal legislation provides grants to help charters
manage start-up costs. (Resmovits, 2014)
Why should charter schools receive
equal funding as traditional schools?
When a student transfers from a traditional public school to a
public charter school, the funding associated with that student will
follow him or her to the public charter school. Public charter
schools do not add any new costs to the state’s public education
system. They simply move funding associated with a student from
one public school to another based upon the decisions of families.
School of choice
• Give a quality educational option for families living in urban
areas or low socioeconomic status neighborhood where the
public neighborhood school options are neither satisfactory nor
equitable (Tonson, 2011)
 Student Achievement Gains
• Students show significant gain
on test scores with 2 years of
attendance at a charter school
(Tonson, 2011)

• Most significant growth in basic

skills (Tonson, 2011)

• Target students who are

systematically left behind; those
in poverty or in urban cores of our
country (Tonson, 2011)
One in 20 children in America now attends a public charter school
and there is no justifiable reason why their schools should receive
fewer dollars than other public schools (Resmovits, 2014)
Charter schools believe all students are
capable of learning and succeeding
 References
1. Muir, Ed. (2007). Are Charter Schools a Threat? American Teacher, 91(4), 22. Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.neu.edu/docview/217260782?accountid=12826

2. How are charter schools funded? (n.d.) Retrieved from http://www.in-perspective.org/pages/finances

3. Save Our Schools. (n.d.) The Facts. Retrieved from https://saveourpublicschoolsma.com/the-facts/#faq

4. Miron, G. & Urschel, J.L. (2010). Equal or fair? A study of revenues and expenditure in American charter
schools. Boulder and Tempe: Education and the Public Interest Center & Education Policy Research
Unit. Retrieved from http://epicpolicy.org/publication/charter-school-finance

5. National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. (n.d.) Facts about charters. Retrieved from
http://www.publiccharters.org/get-the-facts/public-charter-schools/faqs/

6. Resmovits, J. (2014, April 30). Charter school gets less money than public school. Is that a problem?
Huffpost. Retrived from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/30/charter-school-funding-
_n_5242159.html

7. Tonson, A. (2011). Show me the money: The benefits of for-profit charter schools. Retrieved May 15,
2017, http://journals.sagepub.com.ezproxy.neu.edu/doi/pdf/10.1177/0013124511413573
Thank you!
Questions?
Ashley London
London.a@husky.neu.edu