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News & Information
PCCS Response to Pennsylvania Auditor General Report
June 29, 2007
A letter to PA State Legislators from Lawrence F. Jones, Jr., PCCS President.
Dear ________ (Legislator)
Recently, the Auditor General of Pennsylvania observed that three Pennsylvania public charter schools had been over paid. The assertion is that (a) charter schools are being paid more than their actual costs to educate children and (b) charter schools serving children from multiple districts are receiving varying amounts from each district and therefore some wealthier districts are subsidizing the education of children from less affluent districts. The fact of the matter is that Pennsylvania's public charter schools are operating safe, efficient, and productive schools for less than traditional districts receive. I would like to present the actual facts with regards to underfunding of charter schools in Pennsylvania and the Auditor General's recent report.
Although the audit purports to study three Pennsylvania charter schools, two of the schools audited in Erie no longer exist because they were deemed to not be independent charters. Rather, they were run as parts of rival public school districts. So, the whole recommendation to reduce charter school funding by changing the law comes down to the audit of one charter school, the Roberto Clemente Charter School in Allentown. In looking at the funding of Roberto Clemente Charter School, let us compare the dollars expended by the Allentown School District with the funds received by the charter school.
Allentown School District spent $8,691.00 per student in 2005-2006, while it sends the Roberto Clemente Charter School $6,536.44 in 2006-2007. The funding for charter schools allows districts to hold back funds expended for transportation, capital projects and improvements, and other expenses that do not follow through to charters. However, while school districts receive funding for buildings and capital improvements, charters do not. In fact:
- Charter schools receive only a small rental reimbursement subsidy for facilities costs.
- While school districts can be reimbursed for construction costs, charter schools are unable to receive such funding. In fact, charter schools also do not receive bond intercept provisions and have difficulty accessing the municipal bond markets. Despite this fact, several charter schools have built or renovated state of the art facilities across the state for a fraction of the costs expended by districts (charters also follow public bidding and prevailing wage regulations). Most charter schools build buildings the old fashioned way, by saving money to do it. Auditor General Wagner's recommendations would result in our public school children learning in substandard environments.
- Charter schools do not have the ability to raise taxes to increase revenues in the event of a short fall or emergency. In fact, charters depend on the expenditure calculations of school districts. Several charters have seen declining subsidies from districts in past years.
- As small organizations, charter schools do not have the economy of scale many districts enjoy.
To expect charter schools to reconcile their annual revenues based on cost expenditures (precluding charters from accumulating fund balances) is fiscally irresponsible and prejudicial to charter schools and the children they serve. The Auditor General is correct in that the funding methodology for charter schools must change. Students in public charter schools should no longer be penalized by receiving less per pupil funding simply because their parents exercised the right to choose public charter education. This right was provided by Pennsylvania's legislature and must also be protected by the legislature.
Additionally, ensuring that wealthy districts do not subsidize the students of less affluent districts attending charters is a matter of state public school equity. This onerous problem has plagued Pennsylvania for years and should not be solved on the backs of children attending public charter schools.
The Auditor General's call for a review of charter school funding is misguided. Also misguided is the Auditor General's assertion that the Pennsylvania Department of Education should have a greater role in the oversight of charter schools. As it stands, charter schools submit a variety of reports and data to the Pennsylvania Department of Education for financial, programmatic, and compliance issues. Giving additional oversight responsibilities to the Pennsylvania Department of Education bypasses the local control and oversight set forth in charter school law for authorizing school districts. In short, the financial operations of all charter schools is public information which is submitted annually to the Pennsylvania Department of Education. Creating oversight redundancies would be counterproductive, inefficient, and simply the wrong thing to do.
In closing, the Auditor General and General Assembly should focus on establishing a fair and equitable funding solution that allows each child who is similarly situated to receive equal funding. Two children from the same household should not receive less financial resources based upon whether they are educated in a traditional public school or a public charter school. I would like to thank you for your time and consideration of this most important matter.
Sincerely,
Lawrence F. Jones, Jr.
President
Pennsylvania Coalition of Charter Schools
cc: Dennis A. Giorno, Malady &Wooten, llp
cc: Robert T. "Rick" Wooten, Malady & Wooten, llp
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