Giving Compass' Take:

· Writing for the Cato Institute, Corey A. Deangelis shares research he and his colleagues conducted examining the disparities in funding between traditional public schools and charter schools. 

· Why do charter school student receive less funding than public school students? How can this matter be addressed? 

· Learn about the cost of charter schools. 

What a lousy deal. My colleagues at the University of Arkansas and I just released another study examining funding disparities between traditional public schools and public charter schools in 14 cities across the country. The overall finding is clear: families lose a substantial amount of education dollars when they pick charter schools for their children.

Using data from the 2015-16 school year, we find that children in charter schools receive $5,828, or 27 percent, less than their traditional public school peers each year, on average. Put differently, a family forgoes over $75,000 in educational resources for their child’s K-12 education if a charter school fits their needs better than the residentially assigned option. And, unfortunately, the funding inequities are much worse in some cities. As shown in Figure 1 below – and in the original report – children in charter schools in Washington, DC, and Camden, New Jersey receive over $10,000 less than their traditional public school peers each year.

Read the full article about charter school funding by Corey A. Deangelis at the Cato Institute.