Washington, D.C.- Today, the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools testified before the Indiana Senate Appropriations Committee about the need for fair funding practices toward public charter school students in Indiana and supported Governor Mike Pence’s proposal to increase funding for charter students in his budget two weeks ago.
The hearing covered many aspects of charter school history in Indiana, but primarily focused on the funding gap for charter students as compared to their traditional public school counterparts.
In Indiana, public charter school students receive a similar amount of state funding as traditional public school students. However, they do not receive local property tax dollars used for capital projects, debt service, and transportation, which contributes to $2,384 or 21.6 percent less funding for every student.
In his testimony, Russ Simnick, senior director of state advocacy at the National Alliance, said that funding inequity is one of the main weaknesses in Indiana’s otherwise strong law.
“The disparity between public charter school student funding and traditional public school student funding is significant, and worse in Indianapolis,” said Simnick. “If the government allows equal funding for charter school students, Indiana would have the strongest law in the country.”
“A recent study released by the University of Arkansas points out that charter schools in Indiana educate 2.2 percent of the states public school students but receive 1.7 percent of total revenue.
“As a possible solution,” Simnick said that adding $1,500 for every student who attends charter school as proposed by Governor Pence would make a major dent in the $2,384 per student statewide disparity.
About Public Charter Schools
Public charter schools are independent, public, and tuition-free schools that are given the freedom to be more innovative while being held accountable for advancing student achievement. Since 2010, manyindependent research studieshave found that students in charter schools do better in school than their traditional school peers. For example, one study by the Center for Research on Education Outcomes at Stanford University found that charter schools do a better job teaching low income students, minority students, and students who are still learning English than traditional schools. Separate studies by the Center on Reinventing Public Education and Mathematica Policy Research have found that charter school students are more likely to graduate from high school, go on to college, stay in college and have higher earnings in early adulthood.
About the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools
The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools is the leading national nonprofit organization committed to advancing the public charter school movement. Our mission is to lead public education to unprecedented levels of academic achievement by fostering a strong charter sector. For more information, please visit our website at www.publiccharters.org.
