On average, the funding gap between charter schools and traditional schools is 22 percent, or $1,800 per pupil. The average charter school ends up with a total funding shortfall of nearly half a million dollars.
Source: Charter School Funding: Inequity’s Next Frontier
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Annual Survey of America's Charter Schools
Since 1997, the Center for Education Reform has regularly surveyed charter schools operating in the United States. This year's survey tracks the size, scope, demographics, and operations of 990 charter schools (out of 3,300) operating in Spring 2005. Findings include a 60 percent median minority population and a median 63 percent qualifying for free/reduced lunch. On average, charter schools enroll 297 students, about half the number enrolled in district schools. Over half (56%) report significant waiting lists for students who want to attend. Charter schools are serving considerably more at-risk children and doing so with $2,000 less per pupil than traditional district schools.
National Charter Schools Week Toolkit
In honor of National Charter Schools Week 2006, which is to be celebrated May 1-6, the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools is offering a toolkit to generate awareness and mobilize support for charter schools and the students they serve. The toolkit is filled with ideas and templates for engaging the media, policymakers, and local communities. Samples of news releases, proclamations, and letters are included. In addition, a poster, event banner and online banner ads are available for download at the Alliance's website .
Highly Qualified Teachers and Paraprofessionals in Charter Schools: A Guide for Charter School Authorizers
The No Child Left Behind Act establishes mandatory credentialing standards for teachers and paraprofessionals, in both traditional and public charter schools. This Policy Brief explains NCLB's credentialing requirements and applicability to teachers and paraprofessionals working in charter schools and examines authorizer responsibilities for ensuring compliance with these requirements in the charter schools they oversee. The document provides several helpful resources and offers a Model Checklist for Monitoring Compliance with NCLB Credentialing Requirements.
Texas Open Enrollment: Charter School Revenue
This study assesses the funding differences between charter schools and traditional districts in Texas. The researchers find that on average, in 2003-04, charters received $8,098 per-student compared with $8,712 for traditional districts, a gap of $614. The lack of debt service revenue for charter school facilities accounted for most of the per-pupil revenue difference between charters and traditional districts.
Analysis of Long-term Spending in Upstate (New York) Districts that Host Charter Schools
This financial analysis, conducted by the New York Charter School Association, finds that several districts' non-charter school related spending are on the increase despite declining district enrollments. For example, in Albany, since the first charter opened, the district's non-charter spending increased by 31 percent while enrollment decreased by five percent. Since the first charter opened in Buffalo, non-charter spending has increased in that district by 8 percent while enrollment decreased by 13 percent. The document concludes that without the presence of charter schools, districts would have suffered a greater drop in per pupil spending.
Characteristics of Schools, Districts, Teachers, Principals, and School Libraries in the United States: 2003-04 Schools and Staffing Survey
This survey, the nation's most extensive sample survey of public and private K-12 schools, compares, for the first time, charter school students, teachers, and principals with those in traditional public schools, a variety of private schools, and BIA schools. Charter schools were more likely to enroll minority students and employee minority teachers and principals than traditional public schools. Charter schools were more likely than traditional schools to use non traditional grade structures. Charter school teachers spent an average of two more hours a week delivering instruction to students than those in traditional public schools. Charter school principals spent slightly more time interacting with students than those in traditional schools. Teachers and principals in charter schools, on average, made less income than those in traditional schools.
San Francisco Bay Area KIPP Schools: A Study of Early Implementation
This report is the first in a three-year study of five KIPP schools in the San Francisco Bay Area. It treats each school as a case study, examining school demographics, instructional methods, stakeholder satisfaction, and faculty turnover. The researchers find that the overall percentage of students performing at a proficient level or above is consistently higher for the KIPP schools than for comparable schools in the district. The authors call the speed of the implementation of the KIPP program "remarkably fast." That speed appears to be related to three factors: faculty and parents have chosen to be part of KIPP; principals are immersed in the model for at least a full year prior to hiring staff and opening a school; and the KIPP model does not prescribe a particular curriculum or instructional approach.
Public Charter Schools in Oregon: 1999-2005
This evaluation provides achievement data, demographics, audits, and survey results concerning Oregon's charter schools. There is mixed data on student achievement. Elementary charter schools outperform traditional schools. Charter schools at the middle and high school levels, however, generally have achievement levels that are lower than the traditional public schools. The researchers note that these schools target and serve a large percentage of at-risk students, which may account for the poorer performance. Other findings include a high level of satisfaction from charter school parents and students. While new governance structures have been developed and new instructional strategies are in use, charter schools have not proven to be catalysts for school improvement within the traditional school system. In fall 2005, 67 charters were operating in the state.
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