Did You Know? Making an informed decision about education.
Did you know that the average cost per student per year is about two thousand dollars less at charter schools than at our established public schools?
That's really huge! How to explain the difference? Well, like so many things, the answer is a multi-faceted one. But, to think that charter schools are doing roughly the same thing for so much less money makes that seem like a big reason to admire, condone, and try to emulate them.
I think so many of us pay our taxes and just let the government do what they will not even questioning the fiscal responsiblilty of those who make the money decisisons. But, really, that's OUR money, isn't it? It's buying the things we use like our roads, schools, and funds our local firemen and police. Maybe we shouldn't be so complacent and just shrug our shoulders about government's use/misuse of money. Maybe it should make us REALLY MAD when they buy ridiculously expensive staplers or pay for dry cleaning with the money we've entrusted to them... So, responsible, efficient use of tax dollars (money we hand over expecting to be used in our best interest) should be rewarded, admired, and emulated.
According to a study released by the U.S. Department of Education in December of 2011, the median expeditures for traditional public schools are $10,977 per child versus $9,146 for charter schools. That means charter schools spend about $1800 less per child! You know, as a taxpayer, I really like the idea of getting more bang for my buck.
Holly J
5:06 am on Thursday, October 11, 2012
Here's why they can give you "more bang for your buck":
1. Charter schools don't have to provide transportation. This is a multi-million dollar line item for public schools, for which the state ponies up (in our county, at least) about $2 million. Doesn't come close to covering the costs of leasing or buying buses, maintaining them, paying drivers, etc...
2. Charter schools do not have to serve all special needs children. The cost to educate a special needs child can be as much as 4 times the cost of a "regular" ed child. While a charter school cannot deny entrance to a special ed student, they can say "we don't have the services your child needs, BUT he/she can go back to the TPS for those services." So, while the child may be educated at the charter primarily, the county system still has the cost of the special needs services for that child, but not all the funding, since the state portion of the FTE funds "follow the child."
3. Charter schools can contract with vendors for food service- which means less overhead as the school carries no employee cost for the cafeteria workers.
4. Most charter schools pay teachers less.
These are just 4 reasons you get more "bang for your buck." They aren't more efficient or better money managers. The rules are different for them. The playing field is not level.
Jen
5:06 am on Thursday, October 11, 2012
Debbie, are you a "local voice?" Then you would know that the statistics you quoted don't necessarily hold true for Georgia. Please see the link to our state qbe funding report, it will give you a breakdown on funding earned for each district. The locally approved charters receive the same funding as the local traditional public school receives. The State charters (you have to scroll down to see them, they are listed as separate school systems) receive funding as outlined in HB797-making the statistics you quoted quite irrelevant for Georgia.
http://app3.doe.k12.ga.us/ows-bin/owa/qbe_reports.public_menu?p_fy=2000
Jen
5:06 am on Thursday, October 11, 2012
Did you know that Virtual Charter Schools have over 10,000 students enrolled in Georgia? That would be 1/4 of all students enrolled in Charters. Take into account the fact that by Georgia statute virtual schools should not be funded over 2/3 of a traditional public or brick and mortar charter and the numbers you quote above really are not realistic.
Debbie Pascoe
3:17 pm on Tuesday, October 16, 2012
I don't believe the above numbers reflect virtual academies -- neither GSCA nor GVA. Those numbers only reflect brick-and-mortar institutions.
No Name
5:06 am on Thursday, October 11, 2012
If it costs less, then where is the extra unused money going? Sounds like we should be getting a 17% tax reduction out of the deal but I don't recall hearing anything about that.
Debbie Pascoe
3:17 pm on Tuesday, October 16, 2012
The extra unused money? The local taxes are going to the public schools that are not teaching the kids. The state and national money are going to the charter schools.
Monty Brewster
5:31 am on Wednesday, October 17, 2012
Does that $9146 per student include the $1 million of taxpayer money that the management company gets to keep as profit (above and beyond operating costs/salaries)? What about students that require multiple teachers and other specialists? Are they averaged in here? What about the cost of transportation to and from school? What about the mandated uniforms that must be purchased from the school's vendor (which they get a kickback from)?
There's a lot of costs that you either forgot to mention or just flat out ignored.
What exactly do charter schools do differently... other than offer fewer services for our children?
Vote NO in NOvember.
Jen
5:31 am on Wednesday, October 17, 2012
Still irrelevant, Debbie (excuse me are you local?) as in Georgia the state commissioned charter schools do not report expenses in the same manner as the local school districts. There is no mechanism in place for comparing the expenses of a local district with a state charter, nor one in place for requiring a state commissioned charter to publicly release it's expenses. The data you are referring to is from the 2010-2011 school year so would really be moot in the case of Georgia since there were only a handful of state charters in that school year, the rest were district run charters. And since as you say, the numbers only reflect brick-and-mortar institutions then for the state chartered schools you are making a comparison of about 1.6 million students to less than 10,000 students.