CURMUDGUCATION: NC: Charters Get Their More-Than-Fair Share

CURMUDGUCATION: NC: Charters Get Their More-Than-Fair Share:

NC: Charters Get Their More-Than-Fair Share

The North Carolina Justice Center has just released a study of charter school funding, and if anyone was worried that poor NC charters were not getting sufficient support, they can relax.

"Fair Funding for Charter Schools: Mission Accomplished" comes from Kris Nordstrom. Nordstrom is a NC economist who has worked in government before joining NCJC. He's no anti-charter zealot; witness this quote from a piece about the report:

Charter schools are public schools, and North Carolina’s students deserve equal funding whether they attend a public charter school or a "traditional" public school operated by a local school district. Luckily, "fair funding" already exists.

As regular readers know, I'm in complete disagreement with him on this point-- charters are private schools run with public tax dollars. But I mention this so that it's clear I'm not simply cherry-picking from the work of someone who already agrees with me.

Nordstrom's report has some simple but important findings, but first, he makes this observation about "fairness."

It is worth noting that under both current law and HB 539, the sharing of local funds only flows in one direction: from the school district, to the charter school. Under neither scenario is the charter school required to share local funding – which includes grant funding and private donations – with the traditional public school system.

Yeah, you know, it is worth noting. In fact, that's one more way in which charter schools really CURMUDGUCATION: NC: Charters Get Their More-Than-Fair Share: