New Study – charter schools receive less per student than district schools

By Charter News Wire – May 15, 2017

According to a new report conducted by the Department of Education Reform at the University of Arkansas, the average disparity in per-pupil funding between traditional public schools and their public charter school counterparts in metropolitan areas is $5,721, a gap of 29 percent.

Funding from local sources is the chief reason for this disparity, representing a funding gap that favors district schools by, on average, $7,010 per pupil, or a difference of 74 percent. Local per-pupil funding for traditional public schools averages $9,534 compared to $2,524 for charter schools.

“Charter School Funding: Inequity in the City” examines all sources of revenue, including federal, state, local and nonpublic dollars during the 2013-14 school year, and focuses on 14 cities across the nation with a high concentration of enrollment in charter schools. Charter schools in 13 of those 14 cities received less money per student than traditional public schools; 12 of those cities had a funding gap greater than 10 percent.

“[Charter schools] can’t even get close to equity because they have gotten less funding from all forms of government,” said Patrick Wolf, an education professor at the university and one of the study’s authors.

http://laschoolreport.com/charter-schools-receive-5721-less-per-student-than-district-schools-new-research-finds/