Massive Unfair Diversions of Public School Funding to Charter Schools

[JPZenger]

http://www.psea.org/general.aspx?id=9211

"Crossey explained that state laws forcing Chester Upland to make artificially inflated payments to charter schools are draining the district’s resources.

Chester Upland is forced to pay $24,528 for each special education student who attends local charter schools, an amount nearly twice the $13,458 per student special education subsidy the district receives for its own students. Enrollment numbers in at least one local charter school indicate that the charter school is identifying an unusually high number of students with mild disabilities and experiencing a payment windfall.

“These laws are fundamentally unfair, they favor charter schools over traditional public schools, and they are draining Chester Upland’s resources,” Crossey said. “This bizarre payment scheme is among the root causes of the district’s financial distress.” The school district is on the brink of closing its doors because of these crushing payments to charter schools and unprecedented state funding cuts, which have hit poorer school districts even harder than their wealthier neighbors.

The complaint cites four specific problems with the state special education subsidy and the charter school law:

(1) Under the state charter school law, the per student special education payment Chester Upland
is required to make to charter schools is nearly twice as high as the per student special education reimbursement the district receives from the Commonwealth.

(2) The Commonwealth’s special education formula caps state support at 16 percent of the school district’s students. As a result, the school district receives $13,458 per student through the state formula, even though Chester Upland is required to pay $24,528 for 100 percent of special education students charter schools identify. No cap applies to the payments Chester Upland is required to make to the charter schools.

(3) The state charter school reimbursement program was eliminated in 2011. It was enacted in 2001 to help school districts cover at least a portion of these extraordinary charter school costs.

(4) The Commonwealth is not carefully monitoring charter schools to ensure they are not over-identifying special education students with mild disabilities and experiencing a windfall in per student payments from the school district, at the expense of other special education students in the district.

“This is unfair on its face,” Crossey said. “In Chester Upland, these long-standing inequities are a huge part of the problem. Add this to unprecedented state budget cuts to the district, and you understand why this school district is having a hard time keeping the doors open."

[atreides1]

1. The people of Pennsylvania bought the Repub/TeaBagger line!

Now they're getting screwed and not even being kissed! This is what happens when people vote based on emotion and not on reality...so they'll just have to stand and watch as the Repub/TeaBagger party continues to fuck them over!

Bet they'll do it the same way next time, too!

[appleannie1]

2. We have teachers working without pay in this state because of the cuts Corbett has made. And all of

the cuts target low economic neighborhoods the most. Many schools have cut basic classes from their programs. Things like music, art, home economics have completely disappeared. It has forced many schools to either end some of their sports or forced them to charge a fee to enroll in the programs. Sports programs have always given low income kids a chance at higher education through scholarships but not anymore. And charter schools are simply a money making scheme. I am beginning to think they don't believe that kids from average households and low income areas deserve an education. Only the kids of the rich should have that privilege.

[enough]

3. As a Pennsylvanian, I have friends who are public school teachers, all of whom are dealing with the

serious effects of budget cuts. This is the first I've heard of the outrageous disparity of payments from school districts to charter schools.

Thanks for the information.

[madrchsod]

4. this is happening across the country.

duncan is the worse secretary of education we have ever had. if he were a republican we would be screaming about how bad he is

obama has`t said duncan is wrong ,as the saying goes,then obama says it`s right. duncan started with the chicago school system and now it`s nationwide

[msongs]

6. duncan is implementing the policies of his boss. ta da! nt

[MichiganVote]

5. This is what they are stealing from you parents. Wake the fuck up!

[JDPriestly]

7. In my opinion, charter schools are just another way for the rich to

steal from the government.

The people who run the schools tend to be the hacks of wealthy corporations. Not all of them are, and most of the people at the local level don't know it, but in general that is what is going on.

And does the money paid to the charter schools include any kind of funding or set-aside for teachers' pensions.

How are the existing pension obligations to be paid? Did the schools set aside enough money for the pensions as they went along?

Or are the pensions to be funded out of the money already in the pension funds?

If so, how is that going to work if the money is going to charter schools.

After all, teachers in charter schools don't generally have unions and therefore don't have contracts with pension promises. How is this going to work.

[JPZenger]

8. Some charter schools are valuable

There are some charter schools that are valuable. However, the funding formula should be based on actual costs.

There were horrible cases of financial corruption in Pa. charter schools a few years ago. Part of the problem was that a powerful PA. State Senator told everyone to leave the charters alone, and there was no oversight. He is now headed to prison.

The cybercharters are often run by huge for-profit corporations that make large political donations to PA. politicians. Their results have been very questionable. The PA. Budget Secretary used to be the Senior Vice-President for one of the largest cybercharters.