Charter school case: Attorney for systems says disputed law is an attempt to seize local funding
I posted an explanatory piece from the attorney representing the charter schools in a case now before the state Supreme Court. Here is a short piece from one of the attorneys for the school systems, Thomas A. Cox.
First, I want to interject one consideration into this debate: Many of you quote very high per pupil costs in big systems, as much as $13,000 per student. However, that system average is greatly inflated by the costs of educating children with special needs. I once asked Atlanta to break it down for me, and it was spending more than $20,000 for each student with special needs. The costs to educate children with special needs have risen over the last few decades in response to federal mandates to better meet the unique needs of these children.
I attended a seminar on this question at Columbia University years ago where forensic accountants took apart the city of New York’s school budget; I came back from that session and met with APS’s finance director who did the same thing for her system for me to see.