What you need to know about Ohio Statehouse Policy
For Immediate Release: February 14, 2013
Contact: Dale Butland, 614-783-5833
Report Finds “Deduction” System Overpays Charters, Shortchanges Traditional Students; Says Majority of Charter Money Goes to Poorer Performing Schools
Columbus — Innovation Ohio, a progressive think tank headquartered in Columbus, released a new report today which finds that charter schools not only cost the state twice as much money per student as traditional schools, but that the “deduction system” currently used to fund them “has a profoundly negative impact on the 90% of Ohio children who remain in traditional public schools.” The study also found that most of the state money transferred to charters went to schools with worse student performance scores than the school districts from which the money and students came.
Specific findings of the study include:
Said IO President Janetta King:
“Many Ohioans have no idea that the state is paying twice as much per pupil for charter schools than it does for traditional public schools. Fewer still know that the way we fund charter schools financially penalizes the 90% of Ohio children who stay in traditional schools. And how many parents — whose ‘school choice’ is too often swayed by slick and misleading television advertising — know that most kids transfer to charter schools whose performance is worse than the traditional schools they left?
“Now that Gov. Kasich has proposed a new school funding system, we have a perfect opportunity to fix what’s wrong. Surely Ohio doesn’t want a funding system that overpays charters at the expense of traditional schools. Surely Ohioans don’t think charter schools should be paid more than they actually spend. And surely every parent and child deserves to know that charter schools and traditional schools will finally be held to the same level of academic accountability. Innovation Ohio stands ready to help the Governor and the General Assembly any way we can.”
Tagged in these Policy Areas: K-12 Education