Yes, Charter Schools Inflict Some Costs on Districts. But Districts’ Financial Problems Are Far Deeper Than That
I recently wrote an essay explaining fundamental flaws in a paper by Gordon Lafer, a professor and longtime labor union analyst who published through an Oakland, California–based think tank called In the Public Interest. I explained that the analysis failed to follow even the most basic requirements for a balanced analysis of the impact of charter schools […]
School funds should follow students, not protect institutions
In a recent Chalkboard blog post, Helen Ladd and John Singleton summarize their study of how much it costs school districts when children move to charter schools. Much of the analysis focuses on the city of Durham, N.C., where around 15 percent of all public school students now attend charters. Some of the results are pretty […]
How Can Public School Students Get the Personalization that Private Schools Offer?
Seattleites are familiar with this 48-year-old picture of two teenagers in the basement of Lakeside, a local private school. It shows Bill Gates and Paul Allen—who would later found Microsoft—working at computer terminals linked to the local Boeing Company’s giant mainframe. This is personalization at work: a school with the institutional and financial flexibility to […]
