Charter School Funding

The issue of charter school funding comes up as often as does the issue of public charter schools. Each state has their own rules regarding how charter schools are funded, but bottom line in all of this is that a charter school is a "governmental entity" and therefore it is funded in a manner similar to any other government school.

The libertarian minded among us typically support charter schools because they offer an alternative to the traditional government school, and often an alternative is just what we need.

Some people object to how charter schools are funded, and I find those objections are largely based on ignorance, so let's look at how charter schools are funded in Wyoming to learn more about typical funding arrangements that you can expect to see across the country.

First, funding for any of the government schools in Wyoming is done based primarily on student enrollment. This causes great grief among opponents of charter schools because they believe that a drop in enrollment in a government school will cause a loss of funding. Not so.

In Wyoming, we fund both the traditional government school and the public charter school for three years based on enrollment. After three years, the students that are attending a charter school only count for funding the charter school, and they no longer count for funding the traditional government school that they transferred from.

The reason for this approach to charter school funding is to ensure ease of budgeting for schools. This increases the funding requirements for education, but eliminates concerns about revenues suddenly dropping off if parents decide to enroll their children in a charter school within the district.

In any event, funding stays within the district, no matter where the student attends school. So, charter school funding doesn't deprive the district of funding, in fact, it gives the district more money for the first three years.

Second, funding for the charter school is also a matter of contract negotiation with the school district. There are many elements like operating and maintenance costs that are specified in the contract, and are decided on a case-by-case basis. Unfortunately, with so little experience with charter schools in Wyoming, there really isn't any established precedence. In addition, the charter contact is negotiated at the school district level, and not the state level, so funding arrangements can vary somewhat.

Last but not least, a charter school is publicly funded, so it's open to enrollment for everyone. This allows charter schools to be a publicly funded alternative to private and parochial schools that many can't afford.

Contrary to what you might have heard or assumed, there is no "cherry picking" the best students or other discriminatory practices to ensure that the charter school out-performs the traditional government school. Again, much of this thinking is based on ignorance and fear.

So, there you have it, charter school funding in a nutshell. It's pleasing from a libertarian perspective because it offers an alternative to government schools that everyone can take advantage of.

Done with Charter School Funding, take me back to American Education