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April 16, 2006
Charter Schools
I had a great question from a reader this week. In case you didn't catch it the question was about how charter schools are funded. Specifically the issue was about how the programs are funded and whether all the funds are spent on the kids. I'll get to funding, but first for those who don't know much about charters let me do some ground work.
Charter schools are schools set up by a group of individuals who write a plan for running a school and petition a local school district to sponsor them. Many charters have a specific population or program they wish to target so their instruction is geared accordingly. For example, we run a charter school for home/independent study students. Only children and thier parents who wish to have their children study at home with the parent and the charter school teacher as the primary instruction providers should apply. It isn't a program where a bus comes to get the children at 7:00 AM and brings them home at 3:30 PM. It's different and parents need to want and understand that difference to enroll their children. Other charter schools have their own criteria. It's written in their plan.
Questions about charter schools have been going on for several years. They're new and we're all still working through what kind of animal they are. Some folks have no use for these new ideas. Others think the schools will correct any and all problems in the past.
My view is they are another option. Some children don't learn well in a traditional school setting. Like magnet schools, charters provide a different avenue for children to learn, but they certainly have created some controversy.
Originally they were greatly endorsed by several members of the State Board of Education. The first legislation granting their existence was very broad and allowed a great deal of latitude. Unfortunately several of those early charters took advantage of their opportunities. Students didn't recieve the school they were promised, funds went missing, and personnel problems arose. Laws got tightened to match the problems.
The freedom the charters once enjoyed has become more regulated and scrutiny from the Department of Education has become more careful. No one wants children to lose out on the education they need.
So to the question-funding was one of the big issues. Some of the "new to the education business" groups who tried to initiate charters and make a profit from them found themselves frustrated with lack of funds or those who let the instruction slip so they could make money found themselves sued, bankrupt, or out of business.
Now there are regulations around the use of funds. Charter school funding, like any school funding, is based on ADA (average daily attendance). An amount (Revenue Limit) is established for the charter and for every child in attendance for a day the school receives a set amount of money. So the school earns money for the number of children at school every day.
The money generated goes to pay teachers, administrators, aides, secretaries, and any other personnel needed to keep the school operating according to its adopted plan. It also pays facilites costs (upkeep at least), utilities, janitorial, cafeteria needs, books, materials, and all the other stuff it takes to keep a school going. There's a lot to it.
At first charters were allowed to develop their own budgets without much oversight. After several went bankrupt leaving children without a school home, ADA already received and spent, and once a school closed those children having to go to public schools who would not now receive the allocated ADA, regulations were put in place to monitor charter budgets much more closely.
I won't try to explain all the intricacies of those regulations, but suffice it to say that for those who thought this would be a nice for-profit way to make money, those loopholes have been fairly well closed. Several companies thought this would be a great way to make money until they realized how little is actually generated to cover all the costs of what is required. Quality is now also in the picture and I'll talk about that in future articles this week.
I appreciate questions like these. I don't always know what you'd like to hear about in schools. So if you'd like some straight answers about schools, learning, education in general, please ask and I'll do my best to provide information.
Posted by Dr Joni at April 16, 2006 07:23 PM