From Ball State University comes the latest report, Charter School Funding: Inequity Persists, which measures the extent to which states demonstrate funding fairness toward charter schools. As the title implies, most don’t: charters remain severely underfunded compared to their district counterparts despite the fact that they enroll increasing numbers of students. Funding disparities have not subsided since the 2005 (Fordham-published) report, Charter School Funding, Inequity’s Next Frontier identified a spending gap of $1,800 per pupil. Inequity Persists looks at 25 states and finds that Ohio charter students receive $2,231 less than district students, a gap that places Ohio as the 12th most inequitable among the studied states. It’s an important read for charter advocates and opponents alike, and should beg the question: how are we getting away with severely underfunding charters when most are serving minority and/or low-income students? Civil rights, anyone?
