The city is short-changing its charter-school students — and may have to spend up to another $274 million on them next year to meet rising costs, a new analysis says.
The Education Department currently spends up to $18,933 per student in the city’s charter schools, compared to $20,078 for each public-school kid, according to the report by the Independent Budget Office.
The IBO projected that, given enrollment hikes and proposed changes in the per-pupil spending formula from the state, the city may have to spend another $159 million to $274 million to address the issue.
“Per-pupil funding for charter schools, regardless of location, has been increasing more slowly than per-pupil funding for students in general education in DOE schools,” the report stated.
Charter-school boosters said the finding proves their claim that the de Blasio administration is failing to properly support their facilities, which serve roughly 100,000 kids across the city.
“The IBO report is a call to action to provide equal funding to the city’s 100,000 charter school students, who are some of the city’s highest need learners and are underfunded by thousands of dollars per student,” said Jeremiah Kittredge, CEO of charter back Families for Excellent Schools.
James Merriman, CEO of the NYC Charter School Center, added, “It is patently unfair to value charter-school children as less deserving than their district counterparts.”
A DOE spokesman noted the city may be paying more per public-school kid because of such extra costs as teacher-union contracts, which don’t come into play with charters.
“We invest in all public schools, both district and charter, to ensure every student can succeed and thrive,” said DOE spokesman Michael Aciman. “We are reviewing the IBO report and are committed to providing all schools with the funding they need.”
City charter schools currently receive roughly $1.7 billion from the DOE.
De Blasio’s preliminary budget calls for another $138 million in 2018.
The state comes up with the spending formulas for both public and charter schools. Charter rates had been frozen for several years, but Gov. Cuomo has proposed allowing that moratorium to lapse.
Given that, “the additional cost to the city may range from $159 million to $274 million,” according to the report.