If New York State fails to win a federal Race to the Top grant in the first round, to be decided by April, it will not be enough for round two to simply raise the statutory cap on charter schools. Charter funding also matters; specifically, "how [funding] compares with traditional public per student funding applications," according to the Race to the Top application.

In New York's case, charter schools receive more than one-third less funding per student than district schools. If you add the in-kind amounts (textbooks, nursing, etc.) the inequity remains, with a funding gap of more than 25 percent.

The lack of facilities funding for charters has been the primary culprit in this funding gap. Now there is an added problem: the "freeze" in charter funding, stuck at 2008-09 levels. Governor Paterson has proposed to continue this funding level for next year, 2010-11. The injustice of this funding freeze has been discussed on The Chalkboard (here).

State Race to the Top Application: What Funding Freeze?
Reading through the charter school section of the state's current Race to the Top application, one would never know there is a charter funding freeze in place. The application explains charter funding thus:

"the charter school tuition formula is based upon the school district's operating expenditures rather than the revenue source, and reflects expenditures supported by both state aid and local taxes for public school students" (emphasis mine).

This much of the charter funding formula description is correct - until this year when its connection to district operations spending was severed by the funding freeze. Gov. Paterson and the legislature have never clearly understood the charter funding connection to district spending, thanks to the teacher unions, which they listen to far more than the state Education Department. The unions last year first made the false, apples-to-oranges comparison between charter funding and state Foundation Aid revenue to school districts, which led to enactment of the charter funding freeze and a $50 million loss to charter schools.

The problem with the Race to the Top application, written by the state Education Department, is that by ignoring the funding freeze, it leads to an erroneous claim that a charter student's resident school district provides "charter school pupils with an amount equivalent to the district's per-pupil operating expenses."

Lifting the Charter Cap Won't Matter with Funding Freeze
Keeping the funding freeze into next year will make this charter funding inequity worse. That will inhibit new charter expansion and bring greater harm to existing charters since a school cannot effectively operate on 2008-09 funding levels and remain without facilities aid, no matter how high the charter cap may be lifted.

What school district, pray tell, would operate on revenue levels from two years ago? None. So why should charter schools be crippled this way?

The U.S. Department of Education will understand this problem, regardless whether the New York Education Department explains it correctly the next time. The better way is for this charter funding freeze to end, and let funding be tied once again to school district spending. This must begin with Gov. Paterson dropping this "freeze" now, in time for his 21-day budget amendments due out on Tuesday (Feb. 9). Failure to do so would make a round two Race to the Top grant as dubious as it is for round one.

Peter Murphy
for The Chalkboard
(see me Twitter @ PeterMurphy26)