Outside money doesn’t close funding gap for charter schools

Indiana’s charter schools raise more outside money than their traditional public school peers, but traditional public schools in Indiana are able to more than offset that difference via investment income and paid lunches.

A study found traditional Indiana public schools received $10,351 in public funding per student, while charter schools received $8,045. (IBJ file photo)

That’s the conclusion of a June report from the University of Arkansas that examined “non-public” revenue sources for public schools. In Indiana, traditional public schools receive more public funding than charter schools, which are operated by private entities.

Each type of school has access to state funding for their students, as well as federal funding for low-income students or English-language learners. But unlike traditional public schools, charter schools have no access to local property tax revenue to pay for transportation and building costs.

In the 2011 school year studied by the University of Arkansas researchers, traditional public schools in Indiana received total public funding of $10,351 per student, while charter schools received public funding of $8,045 per student—22 percent less than the traditional public schools.

Many charter schools try to make up this difference with fundraising. In 2011, Indiana’s charter schools received more than $3.5 million, or $158 per student, according to the Arkansas study. Traditional public schools received more than $28.5 million in philanthropy that year, or $28 per student.

But traditional public schools earned more from other sources. Investment income brought in $130 per student for traditional public schools, versus $114 per student for charters. And lunch money brought traditional public schools $191 per student, versus just $48 per student for charters.

Traditional public schools might have more adults in their buildings, who pay for lunch themselves.