Think Again: Do charter schools drain resources from traditional public schools?

By David Griffith. He is Associate Director of Research at the Thomas B. Fordham Institute. Excerpt:

"Opponents of public charter schools frequently contend that they drain resources from traditional public schools—a potentially serious charge. But of course, it makes sense that traditional school districts get less money when they enroll fewer students. So from a policymaking perspective, the real question is whether districts’ financial capacity to meet students’ needs is compromised by charters’ presence. This brief addresses that question and several key subquestions by synthesizing the latest and most rigorous research on charters’ fiscal and academic impacts on district schools.

Download the full brief or read it below.

---

Executive Summary

Q: Do charter schools increase or decrease districts’ total revenues per pupil?
A: Charter schools may increase or decrease districts’ total revenues per student, depending on who authorizes them, how they impact the local housing market, and the policies that states and localities adopt.

Q: Do charter schools increase or decrease districts’ instructional spending?
A: Competition from charters may push districts to increase or decrease their instructional spending (though it has mostly positive effects on specific instructional inputs such as teacher salaries).

Q: Do charter schools make districts more or less efficient?
A: While few studies address the efficiency question directly, what we do know suggests that charters make affected school districts more efficient, at least in the long run.

The Bottom Line

In the long run, districts will adjust to charter-driven enrollment declines, just as they do when their enrollments fluctuate for other reasons, so the challenge for policymakers is managing any transition costs—that is, any temporary fiscal or operational challenges that districts face—in a way that is fair to students and taxpayers.

Recommendations

1. Ensure that local dollars follow students to charters on an equitable basis.

2. Ensure that any compensatory funding that districts with declining enrollments receive is temporary.

3. Prioritize the needs of displaced students in cases where the consolidation of under-enrolled district schools is inevitable."