Friday, May 4, 2012

Democurmudgeon: Charter Schools appear to be on a course to cost a whole lot more than public education.

Democurmudgeon: Charter Schools appear to be on a course to cost a whole lot more than public education.:


Charter Schools appear to be on a course to cost a whole lot more than public education.


The major argument used by charter and voucher supporters is the reduced cost for education. But as I have noted so many times, behind the scenes, private interests are begging for equal compensation, negating any savings. But it gets worse, according to the study below, when it comes to the actual costs of these schools.
EdWeek: Educators and policymakers have for years debated the academic performance of charter schools, when compared against traditional public schools. Now a new report focuses on charters' financial performance—and concludes that many well-known charter school networks spend more money than comparable, regular public schools.

The report, released by the National Education Policy Center, examines charter schools' spending, as measured by their 990 filings through the Internal Revenue Service, and other state and local data. But the findings are being strongly disputed by one of the charter operators cited in the report, KIPP. The report concludes that the charter school networks studied in New York spend more per pupil—in some cases, a lot more—than nearby traditional public schools that serve similar populations and grade levels, regardless of the size of school. Achievement First schools,