Source: Washington Examiner
The claim that charter schools divert money from traditional public schools seems correct on its face. Because most states allocate education money based on each district’s enrollment numbers, districts that lose students to charter schools will, by definition, receive less funds. But this is hardly unfair or inequitable. The state shouldn’t maintain the same level of funding for students who are no longer there. Funding also falls when students transfer from one traditional school district to another — but nobody would say public dollars are being “stolen” in that case, even though that’s exactly what happens with public charter schools. To be fair, charter school expansion does contribute to declining enrollment in traditional districts, which leads to pressure on those districts to downsize. It is difficult in the short run to get rid of staff and scale down school facilities. But it is absurd when charter opponents suggest that traditional districts simply cannot survive downsizing in the long run.