A proposed new school funding formula would cost the state $720 million more than the current K-12 budget. And it doesn’t include funding for charter or community schools, which the state spent more than $880 million on last year.
Traditional public school funding is based on the number of students in districts. If a student goes to a charter school, more money goes with them to that charter than the traditional school gets from the state. The new formula suggests direct funding for charters. Chad Aldis is with the Fordham Institute, which studies charters nationally and operates some in Ohio. He was hoping to see what the formula would do with charters.
“The idea that students using choice impacts the ratios used to determine how much aid a traditional public school gets – we need to get away from that," he said.
While House Speaker Larry Householder and others have dismissed direct funding of charters, Aldis says he supports it if the funds come from a pool and not from a budget line item that could be vetoed.
