Charter Issue
#1
Unintentional Funding Inequity in Charter Statute
An unintended consequence of the wording below in the charter school law has
resulted in a severe problem for charter schools that serve students from
several counties. The problem has arisen due to the new allocation formulas of
funds by the state as required by the Leandro decision.
The charter school statute reads in part:
"§ 115C-238.29H. State and local
funds for a charter school.
(a)The State Board of Education shall allocate to each charter school:
(1) An amount equal to the average per pupil allocation for
average daily membership from the local school administrative unit allotments
in which the charter school is located for each child attending the
charter school except for the allocation for children with special needs and for
the allocation for children with limited English proficiency;"
In prior years, the state allocated approximately the same amount per pupil,
regardless of the pupil’s county of residence. Due to Leandro beginning in 2004,
however, the allocation is based upon each county’s income status. For example,
wealthy Brunswick County receives $4,126 per pupil while poorer Columbus County
receives $4,666 from the state. This differential is intended to help even out
the total per pupil amount due to the differentials in the counties’ supplements
- $1,969 for Brunswick but only $802 for Columbus.
The problem is illustrated by Charter Day School which is located in
Brunswick county but serves Columbus and other counties as well. Only slightly
more than half of the student body is from Brunswick for whom it receives the
$4,126 state portion plus the $1,969 county funds for each pupil. Their nearly
200 students from poorer Bladen and Columbus bring their reduced county
supplements of $780 and $802 respectively, but they are also receiving only the
reduced Brunswick amount for the state’s portion as the above statute wording
stipulates. To comply with the intent of Leandro for evening out the total
per-pupil amounts, charter schools should be receiving the state allotment based
on the county of residence of the pupil, not based upon the county
where the school is located.
Because Charter Day School is located in a wealthier county and receives a
lower state allotment but serves many students from poorer counties with lower
supplements, their total annual revenue for the 2004-5 year is reduced by around
$100,000. A spread sheet is attached which illustrates this unintentional blow
to their finances. This unfairly penalizes all of the children at the charter
school, who end up receiving less than either of the counties’ traditional
pupils.
To be equitable and meet the intent of the new allocation method of Leandro,
the law should be modified or corrected to base a charter school’s state
allocation on the county of residence of the student not on the location
of the school. Your help in correcting this situation would be greatly
appreciated and would help even the playing field for the state’s charter
schools and the children from the poorer counties that Leandro was intended to
help.
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