Janie Neeley wrote: “The first is that charter schools are NOT siphoning away cash that would otherwise boost the public school system. That ?cash? belongs to all of us, and charter schools are entitled to public funds to educate our children.”
I had the privilege to serve as Chairman of a very successful Charter School Board here in western NC. The whole discussion and debate over Public Charter Schools vs. Establishment Public Schools funding can be locked down in one simple question. “Why do schools want to be paid for children they don’t teach?”
It has often puzzled me to hear administrators of large traditional public schools decry the ?loss of THEIR funding? when parents choose to send their children to a Public Charter School. Do they also feel robbed when someone moves to another community? Do principles demand that South Carolina, Tennessee or Virginia pay them a share of funding for students who once lived in NC? It?s a ridiculous notion. Charter Schools in NC are nothing more than another public school district, each unto themselves.
In what other industry, or even government agency, do you find people making this silly argument? The next time someone tells you that Charter Schools are taking money from Public Schools, ask them why they want to get paid for kids that they don?t teach.
If someone who used to go to a Mecklenburg County Health Department moves to Buncombe County and seeks services there, should Mecklenburg County be able to seek compensation because Buncombe County “stole” their much needed funding? Of course not. So why is the same argument entertained by legislators and “education experts” when it comes to school districts?
Charter Schools ARE public schools, but they must pay for their own facilities, transportation and curiculum supplement needs. Imagine the savings to tax-payers if ALL Public Schools had to live by the same rules.
PS: Want to really stir it up? Why doesn?t the states? education commitment to each child follow them when they go to a private school – or are home schooled? After all, the state has decided how much money should be invested toward each student?s education, right? Why does that promise, and value, stop at the government school doors?
