Fiscal Impacts of Charter Schools: Lessons from New York

2014 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 86-107 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Bifulco ◽  
Randall Reback
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Public Schools ◽  
School Districts ◽  
Charter Schools ◽  
Charter School ◽  
Financing Policies ◽  
Traditional Public Schools ◽  
Excess Costs ◽  
Fiscal Impacts ◽  
School Financing

This brief argues that charter school programs can have direct fiscal impacts on school districts for two reasons. First, operating two systems of public schools under separate governance arrangements can create excess costs. Second, charter school financing policies can distribute resources to or away from districts. Using the city school districts of Albany and Buffalo in New York, we demonstrate how fiscal impacts on local school districts can be estimated. We find that charter schools have had fiscal impacts on these two school districts. Finally, we argue that charter schools policies should seek to minimize any avoidable excess costs created by charter schools and ensure that the burden of any unavoidable excess costs is equitably distributed across traditional public schools, charter schools, and the state. We offer concrete policy recommendations that may help to achieve these objectives.

scholarly journals Charter School Authorization: A Gateway to Excellence and Equity

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-26
Author(s):  
Karen Stansberry Beard ◽  
Omotayo Adeeko
Keyword(s):  
Public Schools ◽  
Charter Schools ◽  
Charter School ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Educational Inequality ◽  
School Governance ◽  
Quality Education ◽  
Communities Of Color ◽  
Traditional Public Schools ◽  
Governance Models

The lack of quality education many charter schools offer disproportionately and adversely impacts communities of color. This article considered two models of charter school governance in use by California and Ohio. The first model posits that a fundamental tenet of charter schools is freedom from the burdensome bureaucracy traditional public schools bear. Based on the argument that deregulation enables charter schools to employ more innovative instructional and management practices, it assumes higher achievement scores would follow. The second model proposes to address educational inequality by increasing accountability on charter school authorizers by increasing regulatory practices. These models example the variety of governance models extant. In addition, arguments supporting each model are presented. The authors conclude with a discussion that supports the position that while autonomy is essential to maintaining the original objectives of charter schools, states must hold authorizers accountable for student achievement.

scholarly journals The Accountability Bind

2001 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. 37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katrina Bulkley
Keyword(s):  
Public Schools ◽  
Charter Schools ◽  
Charter School ◽  
Educational Outcomes ◽  
Central Component ◽  
Government Performance ◽  
Educational Performance ◽  
Traditional Public Schools ◽  
Performance Accountability ◽  
Future Work

Charter schools involve a trading of autonomy for accountability. This accountability comes through two forces—markets through the choices of parents and students, and accountability to government through the writing of contracts that must be renewed for schools to continue to operate. Charter schools are supposed to be more accountable for educational performance than traditional public schools because authorizers have the ability to revoke charter contracts. Here, I focus on one central component of accountability to government: performance accountability or accountability for educational outcomes to charter school authorizers through the revocation or non-renewal of charter contracts. In this paper, I suggest that contract-based accountability for educational performance in charter schools may not be working as proponents argued it would. This article explores some explanations for why there are very few examples of charter schools that have been closed primarily because of failure to demonstrate educational performance or improvement. Future work will need to test if these challenges for authorizers hold in a variety of contexts. The conclusion examines the implications of these findings for the future of charter school accountability.

A Study of the Effects of Charter Schools on Student Achievement, Attendance, and Selected Mitigating Factors in a Midwestern State’s Midsize Urban School Districts

2018 ◽  
Vol 51 (9) ◽  
pp. 1265-1290
Author(s):  
Frederick C. Clarke ◽  
Walter L. Burt
Keyword(s):  
Public Schools ◽  
School Districts ◽  
Charter Schools ◽  
Urban School ◽  
Urban School Districts ◽  
Socioeconomic Background ◽  
Student Outcome ◽  
Attendance Rates ◽  
School Students ◽  
Traditional Public Schools

Charter schools in urban environments have been scrutinized for their effectiveness. This study attempted to determine whether students attending Midwestern urban charter schools outperformed students in traditional schools on the state’s accountability system over a 5-year time period. Using a quasi-experimental research design, data were collected from 31 Midwestern urban school districts, along with data from 88 adjacent contiguous charter schools during the 2008 to 2012 school years. Findings in this study suggest that students who transferred from traditional public schools to charter schools did not outperform academically as their corresponding counterparts in mathematics and reading, and had lower attendance rates, over the first three consecutive years of their attendance. In the succeeding 2 years, however, charter school students outperformed traditional students in both reading and mathematics, and had greater attendance rates, than students attending traditional public schools. The study also found that a student’s ethnic and socioeconomic background had a significant influence on student outcome measures.

scholarly journals Charter Schools and Mathematics Achievement in the State of Georgia

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 96
Author(s):  
Raymond D. Mooring
Keyword(s):  
Public Schools ◽  
Charter Schools ◽  
Charter School ◽  
Hierarchical Linear Modeling ◽  
Math Achievement ◽  
Analysis Of Covariance ◽  
Linear Modeling ◽  
Traditional Public Schools ◽  
And Gender ◽  
And Mathematics

This study uses hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) and factorial analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) to investigate the relationship between a school’s charter status and Math achievement. After accounting for school gender and ethnicity effects, charter school status is associated with Math achievement. Specifically, the initial status of Math achievement varies depending on ethnicity and gender, but the growth rate does not. Furthermore, district characteristics help to explain the charter school effect on Math achievement. Charter schools outperform traditional public schools when they receive an average amount of instructional funds. To this end, the charter gap in Math achievement decreases over time in districts that spend on instruction and have a substantial amount of minorities. When compared to traditional public schools with similar characteristics, charter schools with high percentages of Black students and/or low percentages of females outperformed their matched traditional public school counterparts. 

scholarly journals Teacher community in elementary charter schools.

2007 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
pp. 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marisa Cannata
Keyword(s):  
Public Schools ◽  
Charter Schools ◽  
Charter School ◽  
Organizational Context ◽  
School Teachers ◽  
Teacher Community ◽  
Traditional Public Schools ◽  
Traditional Public School ◽  
Teacher Professional ◽  
Charter School Teachers

The organizational context of charter schools may facilitate the formation of a strong teacher community. In particular, a focused school mission and increased control over teacher hiring may lead to stronger teacher professional communities. This paper uses the 1999-2000 Schools and Staffing Survey to compare the level of teacher community in charter public and traditional public schools. It also estimates the effect of various charter policy variables and domains of school autonomy on teacher community. Charter school teachers report higher levels of teacher community than traditional public school teachers do, although this effect is less than one-tenth of a standard deviation and is dwarfed by the effect of a supportive principal, teacher decision-making influence, and school size. Charter public schools authorized by universities showed lower levels of teacher community than those authorized by local school districts. Teachers in charter schools that have flexibility over tenure requirements and the school budget report higher levels of teacher community. This study reveals that charter schools do facilitate the formation of strong teacher communities, although the effect is small. The analysis also suggests that the institutional origin of the charter school and specific areas of policy flexibility may influence teacher community.

scholarly journals Choice without Equity: Charter School Segregation

2011 ◽  
Vol 19 ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erica Frankenberg ◽  
Genevieve Siegel-Hawley ◽  
Jia Wang
Keyword(s):  
Public Schools ◽  
Charter Schools ◽  
Charter School ◽  
White Students ◽  
Metropolitan Areas ◽  
School Enrollment ◽  
School Level ◽  
School Segregation ◽  
School Students ◽  
Traditional Public Schools

The political popularity of charter schools is unmistakable. This article explores the relationship between charter schools and segregation across the country, in 40 states, the District of Columbia, and several dozen metropolitan areas with large enrollments of charter school students in 2007-08. The descriptive analysis of the charter school enrollment is aimed at understanding the enrollment and characteristics of charter school students and the extent to which charter school students are segregated, including how charter school segregation compare to students in traditional public schools.  This article examines these questions at different levels, aggregating school-level enrollment to explore patterns among metropolitan areas, states, and the nation using three national datasets.  Our findings suggest that charters currently isolate students by race and class. This analysis of recent data finds that charter schools are more racially isolated than traditional public schools in virtually every state and large metropolitan area in the nation.  In some regions, white students are over-represented in charter schools while in other charter schools, minority students have little exposure to white students.  Data about the extent to which charter schools serve low-income and English learner students is incomplete, but suggest that a substantial share of charter schools may not enroll such students. As charters represent an increasing share of our public schools, they influence the level of segregation experienced by all of our nation’s school children. After two decades, the promise of charter schools to use choice to foster integration and equality in American education has not yet been realized.

scholarly journals The Fiscal Externalities of Charter Schools: Evidence from North Carolina

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 191-208 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helen F. Ladd ◽  
John D. Singleton
Keyword(s):  
North Carolina ◽  
Public Schools ◽  
School Districts ◽  
Charter Schools ◽  
Charter School ◽  
Detailed Balance ◽  
Balance Sheet ◽  
School Pupil ◽  
Fiscal Externalities ◽  
State And Local

A significant criticism of the charter school movement is that funding for charter schools diverts money away from traditional public schools. The magnitude of such adverse fiscal externalities depends in part on the nature of state and local funding policies. In this paper, we examine the fiscal effects of charter schools on both urban and nonurban school districts in North Carolina. We base our analysis on detailed balance sheet information for a sample of school districts that experienced substantial charter growth since the statewide cap on charters was raised in 2011. We find a large and negative fiscal impact in excess of $500 per traditional public school pupil in our one urban school district, which translates into an average fiscal cost of about $3,600 for each student enrolled in charter schools. We estimate comparable to somewhat larger fiscal externalities per charter school pupil for two nonurban districts.

Teacher Working Conditions in Charter Schools and Traditional Public Schools: A Comparative Study

2012 ◽  
Vol 114 (3) ◽  
pp. 1-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yongmei Ni
Keyword(s):  
Public Schools ◽  
Charter Schools ◽  
Charter School ◽  
Working Conditions ◽  
School Type ◽  
School Teachers ◽  
Teacher Working Conditions ◽  
Teachers Perceptions ◽  
Traditional Public Schools ◽  
K 12

Background/Context Teachers affect student performance through their interaction with students in the context of the classrooms and schools where teaching and learning take place. Although it is widely assumed that supportive working conditions improve the quality of instruction and teachers’ willingness to remain in a school, little is known about whether or how the organizational structure of charter schools influences teacher working conditions. Purpose/Research Question This article compares teacher working conditions in charter and traditional public schools and among various types of charter schools. In doing so, it seeks to understand whether the different working conditions are influenced by the intrinsic institutional features of charter schools such as autonomy and competition, or by the extraneous factors such as measureable school and teacher characteristics. Research Design This study utilized data from the 2003–2004 Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS), the nation's most extensive survey of K–12 schools and teachers, both for charter schools and traditional public schools (TPSs). This article is a quantitative analysis that involves three main steps. First, based on the responses to the SASS teacher questionnaire, confirmatory factor analysis was performed to generate multiple factors corresponding to key dimensions of teacher working conditions. Second, propensity score matching was used to pair charter schools with TPSs that are similar in terms of school location, educational level, school type, and student demographics. This matching process mitigates the confounding effects of these extraneous factors on teachers’ perceptions of working conditions. Finally, a series of weighted Hierarchical Linear Models were utilized to compare teachers’ perceptions of working conditions between charter and traditional public schools, controlling for teacher and school characteristics. Conclusions/Recommendations The results show that charter and traditional public school teachers perceive their working conditions to be similar in many regards, including principal leadership, sense of community and collegiality, classroom autonomy, opportunities for professional development, and adequacy of instructional supplies. However, charter school teachers perceive that they have significantly more influence over school policies, but a heavier workload than traditional school teachers. Among charter schools, district-granted charter schools show consistently more supportive working environments than charters granted by other organizations. This implies that state policy can have some indirect influence over charter school working conditions by providing substantial administrative support and oversight to charter schools authorized by independent organizations other than the established structure of school districts.

scholarly journals Are California’s Charter Schools the New Separate-But-Equal “Schools of Excellence,” or Are They Worse Than Plessy?

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-52 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph O. Oluwole ◽  
Preston C. Green
Keyword(s):  
Public Schools ◽  
Charter Schools ◽  
Charter School ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Educational Inequality ◽  
School Governance ◽  
Quality Education ◽  
Communities Of Color ◽  
Traditional Public Schools ◽  
Governance Models

The lack of quality education many charter schools offer disproportionately and adversely impacts communities of color. This article considered two models of charter school governance in use by California and Ohio. The first model posits that a fundamental tenet of charter schools is freedom from the burdensome bureaucracy traditional public schools bear. Based on the argument that deregulation enables charter schools to employ more innovative instructional and management practices, it assumes higher achievement scores would follow. The second model proposes to address educational inequality by increasing accountability on charter school authorizers by increasing regulatory practices. These models example the variety of governance models extant. In addition, arguments supporting each model are presented. The authors conclude with a discussion that supports the position that while autonomy is essential to maintaining the original objectives of charter schools, states must hold authorizers accountable for student achievement.

scholarly journals Circles of influence: An analysis of charter school location and racial patterns at varying geographic scales

2011 ◽  
Vol 19 ◽  
pp. 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charisse Gulosino ◽  
Chad DEntremont
Keyword(s):  
Public Schools ◽  
New Jersey ◽  
School Districts ◽  
Charter Schools ◽  
Charter School ◽  
Racial Segregation ◽  
Dynamic Mapping ◽  
Student Sorting ◽  
Surrounding Areas ◽  
Block Groups

This paper uses Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and dynamic mapping to examine student enrollments in New Jersey charter schools. Consistent with previous research, we find evidence of increased racial segregation. Greater percentages of African-Americans attend charter schools than reside in surrounding areas. We add to the existing charter school literature by more fully considering the importance of charter school supply and examining student enrollments across three geographic scales: school districts, census tracts and block groups. We demonstrate that racial segregation is most severe within charter schools’ immediate neighborhoods (i.e. block groups), suggesting that analyses comparing charter schools to larger school districts or nearby public schools may misrepresent student sorting. This finding appears to result from the tendency of charter schools in New Jersey to cluster just outside predominately African-American neighborhoods, encircling the residential locations of the students they are most likely to enroll.

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