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Charter Students Get Less Than Traditional Public Students Under New School Funding Formula
By: Karen Kasler | Statehouse News Bureau
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A new school funding formula proposed by two state lawmakers would cost a billion dollars more than the current K-12 formula. And that proposal didn’t include money for charter schools. Now it appears charter school students would get a lot less money than traditional public school kids under that plan.
Sources say the new formula would allocate $6220 for each charter school student in the first year. That’s just $200 more than the current state aid per student.
But the new formula would increase the average funding for each traditional public school student to over $7300.
Chad Aldis is with the pro-charter group the Fordham Institute, which operates some charters in Ohio. He wants to know specifics on other funding that charters now get, such as for kids in poverty.
“$200 more in the base funding amount could result in a lot less money for charter schools. Right now, we simply don’t know,” Aldis said.
Reps. Bob Cupp (R-Lima) and John Patterson (D-Jefferson) are still working on the final details of their formula, which they hope could be part of the House version of Gov. Mike DeWine’s budget. DeWine has said he’d like lawmakers to stick with his proposal.