WPS Budget Cut Due to Charter School Reimbursement Underfunding
An explainer and what you can do.
Governor Healey signed a final state budget underfunds charter school reimbursements for WPS to the tune of $900,000. Turns out it’s more like $2 million!
While state law mandates these reimbursements to offset funds that districts lose in transition years (when there is a significant increase in tuition leaving a district to a charter school), the state is not meeting its obligation this year (and doesn’t most years). The shortfall means many districts are effectively subsidizing charter schools while also facing reduced funding for their own schools. The districts most impacted by charter schools are in the Gateway Cities, which host 51% of all Massachusetts charter schools. Once again Massachusetts lawmakers show us that they don’t actually care about the academic gaps that continue to grow between low income and high income students in our state, the largest increase of any state in the US.
A quick primer on how charter school funding works: Every district gets money taken from their chapter 70 state aid based on per pupil amount for each student that attends the charter school (by grade, plus ELL and low-income, as applicable) plus $1288 (for “facilities”). (It’s based on where students live, not where the charter school is.) There is also a three year transition reimbursement for when a student leaves a district for a charter school. For the first year, 100% of the amount of state aid being transferred comes also as reimbursement to the district, the second year it’s 60% and then the third year it’s 40%.
Now we can have a WHOLE conversation on the need to fix charter school funding (and those have been had and continue to be had), but right now I’m focusing on the $900k $2 million Worcester stands to lose. It’s the third year transition reimbursement where the underfunding is happening. The budget funds just half of that third year reimbursement, and also uses different estimated enrollment numbers for the charter schools, which in a per pupil enrollment system makes what number they use vary the money considerably. The budget underfunds reimbursement by about $32 million statewide.
So what can we do? Email the governor and legislature to advocate to fully fund the reimbursement. AND hold people in our community who run charter schools accountable; ask them what they are doing to advocate at the state level to alleviate the harm for our kids in WPS.
Here are some email addresses:
State Education Secretary Patrick Tutwiler:
Abby Foster Kelley Charter School Board of Trustees
Learning First Charter School Chair of the Board, John Latino
The people below are affiliated with Worcester Cultural Academy Charter School (Old Sturbridge Village has a contract with a 7% administrative fee to run WCA):
Executive Director of Old Sturbridge Village, Jim Donahue
VP of External Affairs of Old Sturbridge Village, Kate McEvoy (a Worcester resident)
Stacey Luster, founding member of the Board of Trustees. Her husband, Charles Luster, is running for Worcester City Council.
Pamela Boisvert, founding member of the Board of Trustees and the Board Chair.