Obviously, there are many parents who like and choose charter schools for their children. Additional research revealed surprising results.
The information was garnered from pro charter school publications. Examples from different states show the following: In California, charter schools receive on average $4,800 per student from federal, state and local taxpayer money. That compares with $7,000 that public schools receive. In New York, the average charter-school receives $10,500 per student, compared with $13,300 at traditional public schools.
Chester E. Finn Jr., one of the several reports authors, said that the study of the finances in sixteen states and the District of Columbia, predicted a broad campaign by charter supporters to end finance inequities, including possible lawsuits challenging financing formulas. Many of the reports were funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Walton Family Foundation and are the work of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute of Washington, DC. Chester E. Finn was assistant secretary of Education of the Reagan administration.
One way the schools, that are chartered, get by with limited funds is by paying their teachers well below union wage scales. The schools, that are chartered, also offer more limited educational opportunities compared to broader programs offered by the public-schools. Public schools offer programs for the handicapped and the disabled, but charter schools refuse to take these on. As previously pointed out, charter schools must pay for the rental of the properties they use, for any improvements needed and probably a profit for the investors. Public schools get all of these items from the state or local governments.
In this author's opinion, the major problems that fostered schools, that are chartered,are incapable public officials. People running for public office claim to be the most capable administrators in order to get elected. After being elected, they are faced with insurmountable problems that they are unable to handle. In most cases, public schools were once the pride of the community. Public schools degenerated for reasons like the schools being mandated to undertake the education of the handicapped and the disabled, without being subsidized for the needs that these students require. There was also the problem that teachers rightly demanded, and in most cases received, improved wages for their work. The taxpayers agreed with the teachers. Yet the taxpayers refused to pay increased taxes to cover all the new expenses of the public-schools. Thus the elected officials were faced with problems they could not solve. Therefore, many elected officials did what is now expected of incompetent government officials; they privatize the problems. That way the elected officials can contract out the problems they can't handle to private companies. It was not so many years ago, when elected officials knew the ball was in their court to solve.
Realize that most governments are hard pressed for money, and don't have enough money for the schools for the public. This funding problem is made worse by the chartered schools; for the charter-schools siphon off funding with every student they take away from the schools for the public. Schools for the public get funding from the number of students attending daily. It is unimaginable to see schools, that are chartered, receiving more public funding at the expense of the schools for the public. As stated, legal action has been proposed for trying to equalize the funding for charter-schools, private profitable schools. It seems impossible to try to equalize the funding.
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