Conservative advocacy group pushes for charter funding
Model legislation aimed at improving the budgets of charter schools was released earlier this month by the American Legislative Exchange Council, which brings state lawmakers together with business groups from across the country to discuss and actually develop policy proposals that could be taken back to individual state houses and presented formally.
“We support vouchers, school scholarship programs, virtual learning, blended learning, course choice and educational savings accounts – anything that drops under the umbrella of school choice, we promote as an organization – including charter schools,” said Lindsay Russell, director of the group’s Education Task Force.
Even in states like California, where charters are heavily supported by Gov. Jerry Brown, funding disparities between them and traditional public schools can be significant.
In fact, charter schools received an average of $395 less per student than traditional public schools in 2011, according to California’s nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office.
Included in ALEC’s draft model legislation are three options for how states should distribute funding to charters, be it through school districts, through a charter’s authorizer or directly to each school. Every option calls for charter schools to receive the same per-student funding provided to traditional schools, and for payments to be made in equal installments on a monthly basis.
Each option also requires funding for first-year public charters to be paid based on estimated Conservative advocacy group pushes for charter funding :: SI&A Cabinet Report :: The Essential Resource for Superintendents and the Cabinet: