Arizona’s schools chief is going to ask the Legislature for an almost $80 million increase for charter schools next year, a move he says will equalize the per-student funding charter schools and school districts receive.
Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne says the Arizona Department of Education conducted a study to determine how much money the state spends per student at charter and district schools. The study found that when district bonds and other allowances were accounted for — for instance, property taxes levied under a federal desegregation order or voter-approved budget overrides — district schools spent $868 more on students than charter schools did.
But critics say the comparison between charter schools and district schools is misleading and the funding increase would disproportionately give more money to the charter schools.
When money spent on district students through voter-approved bonding or other allowances is excluded, the state currently spends nearly $300 more per charter school student than it does on students in traditional district schools.
“Because there are some fundamental differences in financing charter schools and financing public schools, I don’t think it’s a fair comparison,” John Wright, president of the Arizona Education Association, said.
Lawmaker to sponsor funding legislation
House Education K-12 Committee Chairman Rep. Mark Anderson, R-18, has agreed to sponsor legislation to provide an additional $78.5 million for charter schools, enough to provide the $868 bump to each of the state’s 90,000 or so charter school students.
Mr. Horne extolled the educational opportunity provided by the charter school system.
“The charter school experiment has proceeded to the point where the Arizona Department of Education has documented marked excellence on the part of a number of these schools,” he said. “This excellence should be rewarded by equalized funding.”
However, Mr. Wright says the money given to charter schools would have no restrictions on how it is spent, while district schools must spend proscribed amounts on specific functions or programs.
“None of that money is required to be spent [specifically] by charter schools,” he said. “They can just put it in their operating budget.”
Mr. Wright also criticized the additional funding, saying that school districts work very hard to get voters to support bonds and budget overrides.
“I’m kind of surprised that fiscal conservatives like Mark Anderson and Tom Horne are simply willing to give charter schools money that the rest of the public schools have to go to their voters for,” he said.
Mr. Horne, though, says the goal is to maximize education and make sure all students have the same amount spent on their schooling.
“I believe the maximum bang for the buck is not to give one type of school more per pupil and another type of school less per pupil,” he said. “I think they get the most bang for their buck if everyone gets the same, and then parents choose the schools that do the best academically for the money that they have…
“It’s my job to figure out the best way to do that.”