Charter Public School Funding in Massachusetts: A Primer. Policy Brief

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  • Additional Information
    • Availability:
      Pioneer Institute for Public Policy Research. 185 Devonshire Street, Boston, MA 02110. Tel: 617-723-2277; Web site: http://www.pioneerinstitute.org
    • Peer Reviewed:
      N
    • Source:
      7
    • Subject Terms:
      Charter Schools; Public Schools; Educational Finance; Funding Formulas; Educational Equity (Finance); Tuition; Special Needs Students; Special Education; State Aid; Equal Education; Access to Education; Educational Facilities; Resource Allocation; Expenditures; School Districts
    • Subject Terms:
      Massachusetts
    • Abstract:
      Massachusetts has one of the highest performing yet slowest growing charter school sectors in the nation. Since the Massachusetts Education Reform Act (MERA) included enabling legislation for charter schools in 1993, the Commonwealth has capped the number of charters that can operate, both statewide and in individual districts. The legislature has modestly increased those caps three times, but since 2010, efforts to raise the caps further have failed in the legislature, the courts, and at the ballot box. Efforts to lift or abolish charter school caps have failed for many reasons, but one pervasive criticism stands out as a major culprit: those opposed to lifting charter school caps claim that charters harm districts by draining their operating funds. Few studies empirically support or refute this claim, and the Commonwealth's murky school funding formula complicates any attempt to do so. This brief evaluates Massachusetts' formula for funding public schools, including charter public schools. 25 years after the Massachusetts Education Reform Act, it is time to revisit and modernize the funding formula. To rectify inequities that impact both districts and charters, the authors make the following recommendations: (1) Weight tuition for students with special educational needs; (2) Adjust the state aid formula to ensure that districts with growing enrollment receive state aid to cover the "target share" of the cost for new students; (3) Provide equitable facilities funding for charters, including access to unused public-school buildings; (4) Provide charter school reimbursement to districts within the overall Chapter 70 allocation districts receive; and (5) Consider how reimbursements impact the ability of districts to right-size operations.
    • Abstract:
      ERIC
    • Publication Date:
      2019
    • Accession Number:
      ED593774