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Charter schools: Public schools doing well
Youngstown says it spends more than it gets when pupils go to charter schools.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR EDUCATION WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN — A study done by an Ohio charter schools organization claims that Ohio’s Big Eight urban school districts — including Youngstown — have more resources to educate children today than they had 12 years ago.
The study dispels assertions by opponents of school choice programs that charter schools and voucher programs drain public school revenues, said the Ohio Alliance for Public Charter Schools.
The study, “Shattering the Myth: An Analysis of the Impact of Charter and Voucher Students on School Finances in Ohio’s Big Eight Urban School District,” “clearly discredits complaints from the traditional education bureaucracy and their supporters that vital revenues are being funneled from struggling traditional schools into choice schools,” said Bill Sims, president and CEO of OAPCS.
“In fact the opposite is true — school districts have fatter budgets today than ever before, even when adjusted for inflation,” he said.
An analysis of state data by Keip Government Solutions found that total spending rose 29.6 percent in the Youngstown city schools over that 12-year period between 1995, when charter schools were first allowed in Ohio, and 2007.
Spending per pupil rose by 106.6 percent over that period (74.2 percent adjusted for inflation), the study said.
For all Big 8 schools (Akron, Canton, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton, Toledo and Youngstown), the numbers were a 25.8 decline in enrollment, a 41.4 percent increase in total spending and a 90.9 percent jump in per-pupil spending (58.4 percent adjusted for inflation).
Keip Government Solutions is a consulting firm providing economic analysis to companies and trade associations that interact with Ohio government.
When a student leaves a public school for a charter or voucher program, only the state-directed portion of public funds allocated for that child’s education follows that student. The locally directed portion remains with the school district, according to OAPCS.
The district loses the responsibility and cost to educate that child and, as a result, the dollars available per child to educate the remaining children in the public school increase, OAPCS said.
“School funding is a shell game,” said Dr. Wendy Webb, superintendent of the Youngstown schools, disputing OAPCS claims.
Youngstown gets a state subsidy of $3,035 per child but must send a check for $5,100 for each child entering a charter school, she said.
“Where does the difference come from?” she asked, suggesting that it comes from local revenues raised by the district. The amount a district must forward to a charter school is determined by a formula looking at the “average” amount the district spends on its pupils, she said.
“All I know is, we get less from the state than the check we have to write out,” Webb said.
The OAPCS study shows that Youngstown’s enrollment over the 12-year period dropped 37 percent from 12,257 to 7,693 while total district spending rose by nearly 30 percent from $88.2 million to $114.3 million.
Per-pupil spending in the district rose from $7,192 to $14,862.
Webb said the per-pupil cost is dropping dramatically as Youngstown imposes budget cuts in an effort to help resolve a $15 million budget deficit last year. Cuts so far have totaled $19 million a year and more are proposed.
Webb said Youngstown’s per-pupil cost is now down to about $9,700 per year.
If school choice ended tomorrow and those children returned to their original public schools, the additional cost to taxpayers would total more than $300 million a year in the eight urban districts alone, assuming that current per-pupil spending levels are maintained, OAPCS said.
Youngstown’s additional cost would be about $18.5 million a year, as 26 percent (about 2,700) of its students are in choice programs, OAPCS said.
gwin@vindy.com
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Comments
I for one would like to see an INDEPENDENT STUDY conducted about how monies are shuffled back and forth between public and charter schools. I am getting frustrated that the only studies I read about in the Vindicator are those done by an organization called OAPCS that clearly represents the interests of charter schools.
I believe that Wendy Webb's analysis is more accurate than the one conducted by the OAPCS. There is something amiss with the math here folks. Could someone take a look at how the studies are set up? Are they even based on good research techniques or better yet good accounting?
I don't know who the OAPCS is, but why doesn't the Vindicator do some investigative reporting about who comprises the organization? Also, could someone please do a little investigating into how much the owners or boards of directors get paid for operating charter schools? Exactly how lucrative is it for the owners or shareholders of these schools? If the schools are set up as non-profits, how much is the budget for administrative costs (meaning the directors) vs. saleries for teachers? I'd also like to know what their qualifications are, do they have advanced degrees in education as would be required in a public school? I know that the teachers in the charter schools are not required be what the state calls, "highly qualified", and to the best of my knowledge teachers at charter schools are not required to pass PRAXIS exams.
Currently, the charter schools in Youngstown (with the exception of some parochial schools) teach only grades K-8. Then the students are sent to public high school where teachers must teach them to behave, sit at a desk and be quiet and then prepare them to pass the OGT.Furthermore, why doesn't someone do something novel like start a charter high school. I would be very interested in reading an evaluation of the effectiveness of one of those. Currently, the charter schools in Youngstown (with the exception of some parochial schools) teach only grades K-8. Then the students are sent to public high school where teachers must teach them to behave, sit at a desk and be quiet, and then prepare them to pass the OGT Test.
Oh,and as an aside consider for a moment that it is far easier to teach a person under four feet tall how to behave than it is to teach a 200 lb. six foot tall teenage male to behave.
A letter to the editor from Ron F. Adler of Miamisburg was published by The Vindicator on January 29th about the same "report". The two stories show exactly what our public schools are up against with these burgeoning charter enterprises.
Why do you think an observer from Miamisburg, wherever that would be, would be so interested in the local schools? He represents the "Ohio Coalition for Quality Education", yet another association of charter schools, and makes the claim that removing tuition for charter students from public school funding actually “helps” the public schools because they keep their gobs of local funding to be used for the remaining students. If he was more familiar with our area, he might have realized that Youngstown City Schools can raise very little funding through local property taxes. Only about 24% of Youngstown funding is local, and that is offset by their increased costs of (forced) transportation of charter school students across town.
In addition, in the exact time period cited by the author, the city schools have been required by the state and federal governments to provide all sorts of expensive intervention programs to their students because of lagging test schools. Those lagging scores are not as low of course as the local charter school scores -- though the charter schools have no such consequences attached to performance.
As a working teacher, it is impossible for me to spend my days spinning data as these hired guns for Charter Associations do. I am left with the conclusion that the whole testing circus, costing by the way, millions more than the yearly budget of YCS, was only implemented in the first place to secure a footing for charter schools to establish themselves in our state. The potential profits of charter schools as they replace public schools seems to be great enough to justify great amounts of investments in political campaigns, in charter school associations, and in propping up the funding of the pioneer schools. Before voters get excited about the lower cost per pupil provided by charter schools, they need to investigate their funding a little more closely. The larger charter schools receive extra funding from the federal government grants, grants from conservative foundations like the Fordham Foundation here in Ohio, and contributions from private sources, like the Christian school supporters of Eagle Heights. When the public schools are gone -- there will be no longer be a need to supplement the funding. It will come from the taxpayer.
Peggy Palma
The public schools give Mr. Gwin and the taxpayers the opportunity to question their boards, speak at board meetings, and criticize decisions.
Wouldn't you like to attend a charter school board meeting? – although of course board members are not elected, and owe their loyalty to the company, not the citizens. Good luck finding one. Eagle Heights is at 10 A.M. and after you take the day off, is likely to go into "executive session."
I have to trust that someday the voters will become aware of the game that Taft's administration and legislature has played in education “improvement”. But my gut feeling is that this will take place as they remember public schooling with nostalgia.
What is the Vindicator's interest in promoting these charters so diligently? I do not find such propaganda in the Cleveland Plain Dealer, or in Canton, Akron or Toledo. My previous post was sent to the Vindicator as a letter to the editor, but they decided not to print it. Note that they DID find it necessary to print a letter from Miamisburg however.