Charter Schools Depleting Funding From MA Public School Budgets

Thursday, June 05, 2014

Nicholas Handy, GoLocalWorcester Contributor

As the Worcester Public School District continues to work on creating and analyzing the school budget for the upcoming fiscal year, a degree of animosity still remains when thinking of charter schools.

According to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, 2,002 students are projected to leave the Worcester Public School District in the 2015 fiscal year, with 64 leaving the Worcester district for another city altogether.

“Charter schools hinder public school budgets because a whole new set of administration, teachers, supplies, and more is needed,” said Brian Allen, Chief Financial & Operations Officer of the Worcester Public School District. “Having stand-alone school districts are taking away funding from the public schools around them. I don’t believe that this is the most effective way to have tax dollars spent.”

With a projected budget that will force the district to make some tough cuts to teachers and programs, many are pointing their fingers at charter schools as the reason for the funding shortages. Those advocating for charter schools, however, point to the reimbursement program set up by the state as a way for districts to get their money back, nullifying all monetary issues.

Funding Give and Take

When students leave a public school district for a charter school, a few things happen financially. The money follows the student to their destination, but the state reimbursement program offers refunds to the school that lost a student.

The refund is based on a formula which takes into account the net school spending on a per pupil basis. The first year that a student transfers, 100-percent the money is refunded – which is around $10,000 in Worcester - and then for the following five years, 25-percent is refunded.

While recognized as a generous way to account for the loss of a student, the reimbursements have been underfunded in the past. Although a recent supplemental budget brought the percentage closer to 100-percent, the fiscal year 2014 reimbursement rates were only at 63-percent.

Abby Kelley Foster Charter Public School, located in Worcester

Public school districts are also still on the hook for transportation costs to students who attend a Worcester-based charter schools, even though the charter schools are not a part of the district.

“If the charter school is in Worcester then we are still required to transport the student,” said Allen. “The problem with transportation is that even if the bus routes are similar, the schedule of a charter school may be entirely different then our school district.”

An Overblown Issue

Public school officials have been condemning charter schools since their inception, citing that they are pulling away finances and students from their districts, but Dominic Slowey, a spokesperson for the Massachusetts Charter Public School Association, says that these claims have been disproved and overblown.

“The reimbursement system pays the public school district for a total of six years,” said Slowey. “That is six years that a district is being paid by the state where they are not required to educate the student.”

Slowey also points out that public school districts need more money every year but that is to be expected with inflation costs. And even if the district needs more money, the number of students leaving Worcester Public Schools has remained relatively unchanged over the past few years.

Looking back five years into Department of Elementary and Secondary Education databases, the number of students leaving the Worcester Public School District has actually dropped slightly from 2,110 in fiscal year 2011 to 2,002 in fiscal year 2015.

“Parents should be able to choose where their child and where their tax dollars are going,” said Slowey. “The tension between charter schools and public schools almost always comes down to money. Because of the formula and the way the system works, Worcester hasn’t been gaining or losing money because the amount of students leaving has remained relatively unchanged.”

Charter Schools Depleting Funding From MA Public School Budgets

Related Slideshow: The 50 Most Diverse High Schools in Massachusetts

#50 Curtis-Tufts HS

Medford, MA

#49 Boston Green Acad.

Boston Green Acad. Horace Mann Charter, Boston, MA

#48 Fitchburg HS

Fitchburg, MA

#47 Global Learning

Global Learning Charter Public HS, New Bedford, MA

#46 Lowell Middlesex

Lowell Middlesex Acad. Charter HS, Lowell, MA

#45 Community Academy

Jamaica Plain, MA

#44 Quincy HS

Quincy, MA

#43 Foxborough Regional

Foxborough Reg. Charter HS, Foxborough, MA

#42 Boston Collegiate

Boston Collegiate Charter HS, Dorchester, MA

#41 Full Circle HS

Somerville, MA

#40 Waltham Senior HS

Waltham, MA

#39 Medford HS

Medford MA

#38 Snowden International

Snowden Int'l School at Copley, Boston, MA

#37 Brockton HS

Brockton Champion HS, Brockton, MA

#36 Worcester Tech. HS

Worcester, MA

#35 Acad. of the Pac. Rim

Acad. of the Pac. Rim Charter Public HS, Hyde Park MA

#34 Lynn Vocational

Lynn Vocational Tech. Institute, Lynn, MA

#33 Boston Arts Academy

Boston, MA

#32 Greater Lowell

Greater Lowell Reg. Vocational Tech., Tyngsborough, MA

#31 Amherst Regional HS

Amherst, MA

#30 Horace Mann

Horace Mann School for the Deaf, Allston, MA

#29 Everett HS

Everett, MA

#28 Lynn English HS

Lynn, MA

#27 Boston Latin HS

Boston, MA

#26 Prospect Hill

Prospect Hill Academy Charter HS, Cambridge, MA

#25 Brookline HS

Brookline, MA

#24 New Bedford HS

New Bedford, MA

#23 Randolph HS

New Bedford, MA

#22 Charlestown HS

Charlestown, MA

#21 Burncoat Senior HS

Worcester, MA

#20 Springfield Ren.

Springfield Renaissance School, Springfield, MA

#19 Sabis International

Sabis Int'l Charter School, Springfield, MA

#18 Quincy Upper HS

Boston, MA

#17 Springfield Central HS

Springfield, MA

#16 Mystic Valley

Mystic Valley Reg. Charter HS, Malden, MA

#15 Univ. Park Campus

University Park Campus HS, Worcester, MA

#14 Doherty Mem. HS

Worcester, MA

#13 North HS

Worcester, MA

#12 Lowell HS

Lowell, MA