scholarly journals Do charter schools receive their fair share of funding? School finance equity for charter and traditional public schools

2020 ◽  
Vol 28 ◽  
pp. 51
Author(s):  
David S. Knight ◽  
Laurence A. Toenjes
Keyword(s):  
Public Schools ◽  
Public School ◽  
Charter Schools ◽  
Charter School ◽  
School Finance ◽  
Structural Characteristics ◽  
Traditional Public Schools ◽  
Traditional Public School ◽  
Finance Policy ◽  
Cost Factors

U.S. charter schools are publicly funded through state school finance formulas that often mirror the traditional public school finance systems. While charter school advocates and critics disagree over whether charters receive an equitable share of funding, few discussions are based on rigorous analyses of funding and expenditures. Most prior analyses, especially those presented in policy briefs or white papers, examine average funding differences without exploring underlying cost factors between the two sectors. Our purpose is to demonstrate how careful analysis of charter school funding with appropriate methodological approaches can shed light on disagreements about charter school finance policy. Using detailed school finance data from Texas as a case study, we find that after accounting for differences in accounting structures and cost factors, charter schools receive significantly more state and local funding compared to traditional public schools with similar structural characteristics and student demographics. However, many small charter schools are actually underfunded relative to their traditional public school counterparts. Policy simulations demonstrate that on average, each student who transfers to a charter school increases the cost to the state by $1,500. We discuss the implications of these findings for both school finance policy in Texas and nationally. 

Does Charter Status Determine Preferences? Comparing the Hiring Preferences of Charter and Traditional Public School Principals

2012 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 455-488 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marisa Cannata ◽  
Mimi Engel
Keyword(s):  
Public Schools ◽  
Public School ◽  
Charter School ◽  
School Principals ◽  
School Enrollment ◽  
Teacher Hiring ◽  
Public School Principals ◽  
Charter School Principals ◽  
Traditional Public Schools ◽  
Traditional Public School

The academic success of any school depends on its teachers. However, relatively little research exists on the qualities principals value in teacher hiring, and we know almost nothing about charter school principals’ preferences. This article addresses this gap in the literature using survey results for a matched sample of charter and traditional public school principals. We compare regression-adjusted survey responses of charter and traditional public school principals to examine whether charter school principals report placing more emphasis on teacher hiring than principals in traditional public schools and whether principals’ preferences for teacher qualifications and characteristics vary between charter and traditional public schools. While we find some mean differences in principals’ reported hiring focus and preferences across charter and traditional public schools, regression results indicate that these differences are driven not by charter status but by school characteristics, such as average teacher experience and school enrollment.

scholarly journals Closed Schools, Open Markets: A Hot Spot Spatial Analysis of School Closures and Charter Openings in Detroit

AERA Open ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 233285841985009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Terrance L. Green ◽  
Joanna D. Sánchez ◽  
Andrene J. Castro
Keyword(s):  
Public Schools ◽  
Public School ◽  
Charter Schools ◽  
Charter School ◽  
Hot Spots ◽  
Hot Spot ◽  
Future Research ◽  
School Closures ◽  
Traditional Public School ◽  
Spatially Distributed

The purpose of this study is to use geographic information systems to map the spatial distribution of traditional public school closures and the opening of charter schools in Detroit. To achieve this purpose, we examine the following research questions: (a) How are traditional public school closures and the opening of charter schools spatially distributed throughout neighborhoods in Detroit during three education policy eras? (b) How, if at all, might these schools’ spatial patterns cluster in certain neighborhoods to create hot spots of traditional public school closures and/or charter school openings? As such, this descriptive study uses hot spot geospatial analysis to identify whether the spatial occurrence of traditional public school closures and charter school openings is randomly distributed or if it occurs in statistically significant spatial clusters. Rollback and rollout neoliberalism is used to theoretically frame the study and guide the analysis. Findings suggest that charter school openings occur more often in hot spots or concentrated ways than the closure of traditional public schools in Detroit. We conclude with implications for future research.

scholarly journals Ethnic Segregation in Arizona Charter Schools

1999 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Casey D. Cobb ◽  
Gene V Glass
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Public Schools ◽  
Public School ◽  
Charter Schools ◽  
The United States ◽  
Ethnic Segregation ◽  
Ethnic Stratification ◽  
Traditional Public Schools ◽  
Traditional Public School ◽  
Populated Region

Among the criticisms of charter schools is their potential to further stratify schools along ethnic and class lines. This study addressed whether Arizona charter schools are more ethnically segregated than traditional public schools. In 1996-97, Arizona had nearly one in four of all charter schools in the United States. The analysis involved a series of comparisons between the ethnic compositions of adjacent charter and public schools in Arizona's most populated region and its rural towns. This methodology differed from the approach of many evaluations of charter schools and ethnic stratification in that it incorporated the use of geographic maps to compare schools' ethnic make-ups. The ethnic compositions of 55 urban and 57 rural charter schools were inspected relative to their traditional public school neighbors.

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 Charter Schools and Student Achievement in Florida

2006 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 91-122 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tim R. Sass
Keyword(s):  
Student Achievement ◽  
Public Schools ◽  
Public School ◽  
Charter Schools ◽  
Fixed Effects ◽  
School Quality ◽  
School Students ◽  
Public School Students ◽  
Traditional Public Schools ◽  
Traditional Public School

I utilize longitudinal data covering all public school students in Florida to study the performance of charter schools and their competitive impact on traditional public schools. Controlling for student-level fixed effects, I find achievement initially is lower in charters. However, by their fifth year of operation new charter schools reach a par with the average traditional public school in math and produce higher reading achievement scores than their traditional public school counterparts. Among charters, those targeting at-risk and special education students demonstrate lower student achievement, while charter schools managed by for-profit entities peform no differently on average than charters run by nonprofits. Controlling for preexisting traditional public school quality, competition from charter schools is associated with modest increases in math scores and unchanged reading scores in nearby traditional public schools.

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.

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 School Choice in Indianapolis: Effects of Charter, Magnet, Private, and Traditional Public Schools

2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 227-255 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Berends ◽  
R. Joseph Waddington
Keyword(s):  
Public Schools ◽  
Public School ◽  
School Choice ◽  
Fixed Effects ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Learner ◽  
Urban Region ◽  
School Type ◽  
Traditional Public Schools ◽  
Traditional Public School

School choice researchers are often limited to comparing one type of choice with another (e.g., charter schools vs. traditional public schools). One area researchers have not examined is the effects of different school types within the same urban region. We fill this gap by analyzing longitudinal data for students (grades 3–8) in Indianapolis, using student fixed effects models to estimate the impacts of students switching from a traditional public school to a charter, magnet, Catholic, or other private school. We find that students experience no differences in their achievement gains after transferring from a traditional public school to a charter school. However, students switching to magnet schools experience modest annual losses of −0.09 standard deviation (SD) in mathematics and −0.11 SD in English Language Arts. Students switching to Catholic schools also experience annual losses of −0.18 SD in mathematics. These findings are robust to a series of alternative model specifications. Additionally, we find some variability in the mean school type impacts by students’ race/ethnicity, English language learner status, and number of years enrolled in a choice school. We discuss our results in the context of the variability of choice school effects across an entire urban area, something future research needs to examine.

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