School leaders aim to boost charter school funding

Proposal would allocate county funding based on enrollment

Thursday, Dec. 21, 2006

by Guy Leonard

Staff Writer

The bill, proposed by state Del. Doyle Niemann (D-Dist. 47) of Mount Rainier, would require the county school system to divide its operating budget by the number of students enrolled and fund 85 percent of that figure to each charter school student.

Charter schools are public schools that offer different study alternatives to the standard public school experience.

The new funding formula would provide more money than what is currently paid out, county school officials said, but would still not be as much as the state Board of Education’s formula of 98 percent funding.

The Prince George’s school system policy now involves removing money for building maintenance, special education, transportation and federal money for low-income students from the charter school per-pupil funding amount.

Charter schools currently receive about 67 percent of what is given per regular school student. The school system provides $9,163 per standard public school student and $6,163 per charter school student.

Joni Berman, executive director of Maryland Charter School Network, an advocacy group that works on the behalf of charter schools, slammed the proposal.

‘‘That does not allow for commensurate funding,” Berman said. ‘‘It doesn’t matter if the child is a charter school student or in a regular public school, they should be funded the same way because they are [all] public school students.”

Charter school leaders have complained about the school system’s policy of not disbursing the same amount of funds per pupil as they do to standard public school students.

Three charter schools – Potomac Charter School in Fort Washington, Turning Point in Lanham and EXCEL academies in Beltsville – opened in the county this year. They were the only charter schools approved by the county schools system to open this year, but about 10 others have applied to open in the 2007-2008 school year.

Deborah Driver, head of the parent board at Potomac Charter School, expressed appreciation that Niemann was at least making an attempt to create a fairer funding formula.

‘‘It sounds exactly like what we need to be doing,” Driver said of the 85 percent solution.

Schools Superintendent John Deasy supports the proposed bill and told the county school board that the success of the charter schools was the county responsibility.

‘‘They can’t be successful at [the current level] of funding,” Deasy said. ‘‘They are ours. They are in our county. This fixes a known funding formula.”

In the past, school system leaders have argued that charter schools should receive less funding because they do not use system buildings or transportation and have few, if any, special needs students that would justify the same level of funding for charter students as other public school students.

Niemann, the bill’s sponsor, said future charter schools, as well as the ones already operating, would be better able to plan out their budgets with a final formula such as the one he is proposing.

‘‘We agreed to have charter schools, so let’s have a fair way to fund them,” Niemann said. ‘‘Right now, it’s all arbitrary. We don’t have a real consistent formula. We need this so everyone will know what they are going to get.”

The debate over the funding plan will take place against a backdrop of litigation now under way in Maryland courts over the same issue.

Both Prince George’s County and Baltimore city public schools are appealing decisions that would force them to use the state’s 98 percent funding formula.

Lincoln Public Charter School, which is approved to operate in Prince George’s County, has not opened because of its court battle in the Maryland Court of Appeals with the county over funding.

City Neighbors Charter School in Baltimore City won a court case in the Maryland Court of Special Appeals to get the 98 percent funding, but the city government has re-appealed to the Court of Appeals.

The Court of Appeals has the final decision on the charter schools funding issue at the state level.

E-mail Guy Leonard at gleonard@gazette.net.