The Inequity of Public School Funding

Charters get about 30% less than their union-run counterparts

WSJ editorial. 

"Few things illustrate the mixed-up priorities of public education more than funding. Traditional public schools continue to get increases in tax dollars even as people are fleeing them. But charter schools continue to get less even though their enrollment is increasing.

That’s the finding of a new study by the Department of Education Reform at the University of Arkansas, “Charter School Funding: Little Progress Towards Equity in the City.” The team has studied charter funding since 2002-2003. This study, based on 18 cities, found that on average charter schools “receive about 30 percent or $7,147 less funding per pupil” than traditional public schools, in 2020 dollars.

This gap has been remarkably persistent for 20 years. In 2002-2003 the average per-pupil funding gap was 27%. It rose to 31.4% in 2010-2011, dropped to 20.7% in 2013-2014 before hitting 33% in 2017-2018. The dollar gap was greatest in Camden, N.J. ($19,711) and smallest in Houston, where charters receive about ($417) more than the traditional public schools.

The report also explodes some common myths. Notwithstanding the belief that charters are flush with cash from supporters, traditional public schools have an average advantage of $16 per pupil in private funding. Student demographics don’t explain the funding gap. Detroit’s charters, for example, receive an average 35.3% less than their traditional counterparts—though the charter students have a higher poverty rate and nearly identical proportion of special-ed and English-as-a-second-language learners.

What makes this so frustrating is that the funding gap remained constant despite striking gains in charter performance. A report in June from Stanford’s Center for Research on Education Outcomes found that most charters “produce superior student gains despite enrolling a more challenging student population.” Parents know this, which is why charters are attracting more children while traditional public schools are losing them.

The funding formulas haven’t kept up with this reality. The reason is political power. Teachers unions have it, while charter schools don’t. Progressives like to invoke “equity.” Given that charters are public schools every bit as much as union schools, isn’t it time public education brought some equity to its funding?"