NEWS
- Just 6 Percent Of D.C. Charter Budgets Come From Private Funding, Report Finds
- Charter schools could be the answer to universal preschool programs, experts say [AppleTree PCS mentioned]
Just 6 Percent Of D.C. Charter Budgets Come From Private Funding, Report Finds
WAMU 88.5
By Ashley Dejean
August 9, 2015
The DC Fiscal Policy Institute took a look at where charter schools get their money and how they use it. In a new report (pdf), the research group says the District should make that information easier to understand.
Soumya Bhat, with the DC Fiscal Policy Institute, says understanding the finances of charter schools is vital for parents and policy makers.
"Charter schools serve over 44 percent of all public school students in the District and they're funded with over $600 million in local resources," Bhat says.
Her group analyzed data the DC Public Charter School Board releases every year. They found that schools spent 61 percent of revenue on personnel on average.
Bhat says she was surprised to find private funding — like grants and donations — only accounted for 6 percent of of overall funding.
"A lot of folks anecdotally think charter schools have a great deal of private resources coming in, but we actually saw the majority of the D.C. Charter schools studied are still relying primary on local resources.
The data is broken into broad categories, like occupancy, personnel and direct student expenses. Bhat says she'd like to see something a little more specific.
"It'd be really great for the public to understand more details breakouts of how they're spending that money, for example summer programming or after school programming or maybe they have extra technology they're able to afford because of spending trends," Bhat says.
She also recommends giving schools an overall grade. That way people can easily understand which schools are performing well financially and which ones aren't.
Out of 60 schools, the Public Charter School Board found 21 were financially high performing and 7 low performing.
Charter schools could be the answer to universal preschool programs, experts say [AppleTree PCS mentioned]
Watchdog.org
By Moriah Costa
August 7, 2015
As funding and interest in preschool grows, some education reformers say charter schools could be a model for providing early education programs.
In Washington, D.C., charter and traditional public schools have offered early childhood education for years.
It’s a system that’s encouraged a lot of innovation, said Sara Mead, a Bellwether Education Partner who serves on the board of the D.C. Public Charter School Board.
“One of the things that we are seeing in D.C. is that kind of innovation and allowing the (funding) flexibility of charters and pre-k can fuel innovation that can expand options for parents, (and) improve quality,” she said.
Innovative programs include Montessori, bilingual immersion programs for preschoolers and AppleTree, a charter school focusing on early childhood education.
Preschool is optional for families in the District, and it’s also one of the most popular programs. About 40 percent of families on the charter waiting list are for pre-k 3 and 4 programs, according to data from DCPCSB.
Both sectors receive about $13,000 per preschool student each year. Overall, about 86 percent of 3- and 4-year-olds in D.C. attend a publicly funded preschool program.
But in some states, education laws prohibit charter schools from teaching preschoolers, Mead said.
In a recent report for the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, Mead found that in the 36 states that allow charter schools all but four face significant barriers to offering publicly funded preschool. Nine of those have laws that preclude charter schools from teaching preschool; 23 others have created other barriers in the application, approval and funding process.
The study found that while 35 states and D.C. have charter school laws and publicly funded preschool programs, only five states have more than 50 percent of charter schools offering preschool. In 19 states, less than 20 percent of charter schools offer preschool.
Mead, who co-authored the report with Bellwether Education analyst Ashley LiBetti Mitchel, said D.C.’s per-student funding formula could be a model for other states.
“(Equal funding) creates an environment where it’s very hospitable for both D.C. (Public Schools) and charter schools to serve 3- and 4-year olds,” she said.
Mead and Mitchel are part of a growing movement to expose kids to early learning. Evidence suggests exposure to early education can help kids succeed academically later on.
Nina Rees, president of National Association for Public Charter Schools, said D.C. has such a robust preschool program because, in part, it was created to serve all students, regardless of family income.
“The lesson out of D.C. was that it was serving everyone and, as a result, it’s been a sustainable program,” she said. “I worry that when you create programs that are only confined to serving the neediest, creating a constituency to sustain the program will take a while.”
With many families working full-time, it’s important for states to look at ways to provide quality education at an early age, she said.
“I feel like the days of a family being able to keep their child at home, or being able to afford staying at home until they turn 5, has long gone,” she said. “So as a country I think it’s important that we look at this issue in a more holistic way, and it looks like a lot of families are participating anyways.”
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