Funding for Charter Schools

Charter schools across the country struggle with funding issues constantly. Most of us do not receive funds from local property taxes, which can account for as much as 50% of our funds. In our state, our school district has the option of passing those funds on to us. Of course, they choose not to. In any given year, that amounts to nearly $500,000. What do you suppose they are doing with this surplus of funds? We are educating the students; however, they get to keep the funds. It is not fair, but that is the way the law was crafted. Many people believe that the legislators purposely wrote the law in such a manner so that charter scchools in this state would close due to financial issues. That has happened to a few of our 31 charter schools; however, the rest of us hold fundraisers and whatever to bring in extra funds.

There are many other funds that charter schools do not receive from their districts. There are numerous funds from the state and federal governments that are allocated to students for different reasons. Oftentimes we are not aware of those special funds. If we don't ask for the funds, then we don't receive them. Title I funds are discretionary because the district can dictate each year which schools qualify. Strangely enough, our school which has about 78% free/reduced lunch rate has never qualified. However, schools with the same percentage as ours has.

During our first year of operation, we had to spend nearly $54,000 in catered meals for our students because the district refused to provide lunch service. The State Department of Education agreed that the district was obligated to; however, they could not force them to provide the meals. Fortunately, we have a new Superintendent of Education who is supportive of all types of school choice (except vouchers) and he is trying to make sure we receive those services to which we are entitled.

We do not receive any funds for facilities or transportation, but we're not giving up. New legislation is being presented in the next general session to address the transportation funding. Overall, we are making progress in the funding process. We're in our fourth year of operation. It has not been easy.