Dayton Daily News education reporter Scott Elliott writes about schools, kids, teaching and learning.
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Charters, money and new taxes in Dayton
Ohio’s complex system for funding schools, and especially charter schools, has once again left Dayton Public Schools with an unexpected financial bite.
This time, the district and the state disagree on how many kids are enrolled in the districts vs. charter schools. The discrepancy, about 675 kids, equals $6 million in state funds school officials say they will not get next school year. And school board President Gail Littlejohn said that shortfall will force the district to seek a levy in the spring of 2007, a year ahead of schedule.
“We were hoping to delay that levy until 2008,” she said. “That was the original plan. But if the discrepancy over final student head count is not resolved, we’ll have to go for it earlier.”
Charter schools are paid based on their enrollment. For every child who attends a charter, money is routed from the school district tot he charter school.
But how that money arrives at the charter schools is extremely complicated. Charter students are included in the district’s state aid calculation and then subtracted out later, a process school districts, charter schools and the state education department have said should be changed.
And counting students, who sometimes move back and fourth between the district and one or more charters, has become a high stakes game.
As students began flooding to charter schools in Dayton beginning in 1998, the district chronically underestimated charter enrollment, leading to frequent end-of-the-school-year financial crunches. But two years ago, school officials hired a consultant to help track each student on the district and charter school rolls to nail down where students belonged.
But state officials, who say charter and school district kids are counted using two distinct methods, sided with the charter schools’ figure on enrollment.
“We think it represents a more reality-based look at the enrollment levels on the community schools side of the situation,” said Paulo DeMaria, the associate state superintendent for school finance.
Permalink | Comments (2) | Categories: Charter Schools and School Choice, Dayton Public Schools
Comments
By Oldprof
May 31, 2006 11:44 PM | Link to this
True, when dollars are scarce, scrambling for them is mandatory. And our recent legislators again prove that they are unable to implement a government that’s elegant and efficient. We won’t have efficiency or productivity in very many state agencies until those legislators either brighten up or get out.By Mary
May 31, 2006 12:49 PM | Link to this
Funny, how the books are cooked on student enrollment, graduation rates, etc to enhance the bottom line. Government bureaucracies are not much different from Enron in their deceptions. Maybe we need to send a few bureaucrats to jail who deceive to get more tax dollars. If we cannot even count students and money correctly, why run an education institution? Among some parents, it is well known after the October student count, schools seemed to care less about some of their students. The schools seemed to care more about the money attached to the student than the student.