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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Note: Please be aware that online publishers often change URLs or no longer provide access to articles after 7 days. If any of the below links no longer work, access the publishing newspaper and search the archives for the keywords in the subject matter. Good luck.
Delaware Legislators Seeking Facility Funding for Charter Schools
State Representative Deborah Hudson is one of several legislators sponsoring new legislation to provide charter schools with $750 per student in state funding for facilities. Governor Ruth Ann Minner has announced she disapproves of House Bill 422, setting up a fight over charter school construction funding. "She's discriminating against over 6,500 charter school students in this state," Hudson said. Minner says the state has enough on its plate without adding to it.
Source: News Journal, (05/15/2006)
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More than a Thousand Students Seek Entrance to Green Dot Public Schools in L.A.
Green Dot Public Schools founder Steve Barr's marketing campaign to South L.A. families has paid off. Several hundred families waited together on May 11 to see if their children would get into one of the five Green Dot Public Schools charter campuses that will open in the fall in South Los Angeles. Barr had fought with L.A. Unified Supt. Roy Romer over reforms at the poor-performing Jefferson High School. Romer dismissed Barr's initial request that the district allow Green Dot to take control of the Jefferson campus. Barr then began planning to open charter campuses around the high school, and informed the community by sending thousands of mailers and holding frequent community meetings. Barr praised the families who came to the lottery. "You are all revolutionaries," he said. "The whole city is watching tonight." One eighth-grade student who was picked said: "I feel great that I got chosen. I want to get a better education."
Source: LA Times (free registration required), (05/11/2006)
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13 Missouri Charters Sever Connections with District
Thirteen of 16 charter schools in Kansas City, Missouri have cut ties with the Kansas City School District to become independent local education agencies. The ability to be a local education agency (LEA) was granted by the state last year. Charter schools with LEA status will be responsible for collecting and reporting school data to the state education department. In the past, the school district had collected and reported that data for the charter schools. The 13 schools will continue to be sponsored by either the University of Missouri-Kansas City or Central Missouri State University. "They have no ties whatsoever to the school district anymore," said Jocelyn Strand, director of charter schools for the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
Source: Kansas City Star, (05/10/2006)
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Advocates Press North Carolina Legislators for Lottery Proceeds
Part of the proceeds from North Carolina's state lottery are earmarked to support smaller elementary school classrooms and capital expenses of public schools. The state's charter schools, by law, are unable to access construction funds and other capital spending. Therefore they are unable to access their share of the estimated $162 million of lottery proceeds for capital expenses this year. On May 10, hundreds of charter school administrators, students and their parents came to the Legislative Building to urge lawmakers to change the lottery law to ensure their schools can access lottery profits for facilities. The issue is likely to be debated this session.
Source: News and Observer, (05/10/2006)
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Bank Gives Funding to Help Establish Charter School Support Center in New Orleans
Capital One Bank in New Orleans is giving $3 million to nonprofit organizations. The grants include $1 million to the University of New Orleans (UNO) to help establish the Capital One/University of New Orleans Charter School Center. The funds will be used to create a support center for charter schools the university manages. Money will be used for grant writing, fund raising and teacher training. Currently, UNO works with four charter schools, providing assistance with technology and introducing teachers to more effective teaching techniques. "With this seed money we can hire a chief financial officer to do financial oversight," said Timothy Ryan, chancellor of the university. "An organization fails if the business side fails."
Source: The Times-Picayune, (05/10/2006)
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Diminished New Orleans Teacher Union Challenged by Charter Schools
The United Teachers of New Orleans membership is down from 4,700 before Hurricane Katrina to 300. Of the 25 public schools that are now open in the city, twenty are charter schools. The majority of the city's future teaching jobs are likely to be in charter schools, given that most of the 112 schools in the state-run "recovery district" will be administered under charters with organizations that bid to operate them. Brian Riedlinger of the Algiers Charter School Association, which operates five charter schools in New Orleans, said his organization's contract with the school board specifies that it will not participate in collective bargaining. He said administrators take extra steps to ensure that any dissatisfaction among teachers is addressed. "We are trying to be sensitive and to listen to their concerns,” he said. Paul Hill of the University of Washington said it generally appears as if teachers in charter schools are reluctant to join unions unless significant problems with the management emerge.
Source: Education Week (subscription required), (05/10/2006)
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Charter School Funding Method Altered in New Hampshire
A bill has passed in New Hampshire which will allow charter schools to get funding directly from the state. The state had been sending $4,300 per student to each school district, which then distributed the money to the charter school. Some charter schools enroll students from several different districts and getting payments on time often proved impossible, leading to budget problems. A charter school advocate, Jen Maher, said the old system of funding made districts feel that charter schools were taking money away from the district. "That's not the case," said Maher. "The money is allocated per student, so if that student wasn't in the school, the money would not be there. But, there is sometimes the impression - they see it in their bank account and then it's gone, but it's not money for them in the first place." The state has seven charters in operation and four approved schools in various stages of development.
Source: Sea Coast Online, (05/09/2006)
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