The libertarian CATO Institute, which supports vouchers and school choice, today published a study of the way that charters are affecting private schools.
Briefly, charters are drawing many students from private schools. In urban districts, about 1/3 of charter elementary students come from private schools (mostly Catholic), causing these schools to be in deep financial distress. CATO writes that charters:
are wreaking havoc on private education. Charter schools take a significant portion of their students from private schools, causing a drop in private enrollment, driving some schools entirely out of business, and thereby raising public costs while potentially diminishing competition and diversity in our education system overall.
It is no accident that inner-city Catholic schools are closing as charters open nearby. The Catholic schools charge tuition, the charters are free.
The study concludes:
The flow of private-school students into charters has important fiscal implications for districts and states. When charters draw students from private schools, demands for tax revenue increase. If governments increase educational spending, tax revenues must be increased or spending in other areas reduced, or else districts may face pressures to reduce educational services. The shift of students from private to public schools represents a significant shift in the financial burdens for education from the private to the public sector.
The advent of online schools is also causing fiscal distress, as public school lose funding to online vendors. Another unanticipated development is that home schooling families can now claim public funding for their children if they enroll in an online charter, whereas in the past these students did not receive public funding.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Pearson’s stated goal is every student, every teacher, a customer. Charters seem to be the vehicle and testing drives the new harsh processes.
Oh the unintended consequences.
But, it seems that the privatizers can already see many of the consequences for the children, and their attitude is consequences be damned, money is to be made.
The Catholics just need to learn how to become a charter school “sponsor”, that’s all! That way they can get that precious public school money-to hell with the constitution, ya know like in privateer’s heaven that is the state of Louisiana.
Pennsylvania created scholarships funded by donations from businesses which earn them up to 90% tax break. Donations go to an “independent “? Scholarship fund. The tax dollars are thus ‘laundered’ and may now go with the student to a parochial school. Constitution,what constitution?
I wonder where these politicians are getting their education from. Did they miss class on the days when the Constitution and First Amendment were discussed?
Duane, you are a loyal reader and one who writes comments. Just as a reminder, one doesn’t have to be a charter to get public money in Louisiana for your school. There are Catholic schools receiving voucher money and numerous other “church” schools taking voucher money. As I have looked at some of them, I really question their real intent. I don’t feel comfortable saying it’s for “the children”. I feel more comfortable saying it’s to keep their school open and very likely make some profit along the way. Yes, more charters will be arriving. More money that should be going to public schools will go to them as money will also go to the new push for online schools providing more “choice.” Yes indeed there will be an opportunity for profit to be made in Louisiana. Also opportunities for these for-profit charters to experience hurricanes. 🙂
In Milwaukee, Charters and private schools receive public money. In the beginning of this experiment, the state and city of Milwaukee saved money, because charter and private schools received less per pupil spending and drew students only from Milwaukee Public Schools. It seemed to be cost effective. In the last few years, there is no money being saved, because the state legislature has allowed more and more children into the program, and more and more private schools have sought the money when churches could no longer support their schools and their pupils disappeared. Private schools blatantly admit that the students now in the program were never in public schools. They were receiving scholarships from the church or other groups. The city of Milwaukee levy for school choice went up approximately 25% in 2011. The formula was set up so that only Milwaukee pays. Milwaukee Public Schools must cope with an ever shrinking budget and must jump through unbelievable accountability hoops, because it is supposedly “failing.” And, although things have improved somewhat, “choice Schools” have very little accountability.
The fact that this is being done DELIBERATELY makes me feel ill.
I know of a financially struggling Catholic school in Queens, NY that is opening a charter on its campus. I guess that is one way to rob Peter to pay Paul.
One thing that we see in Milwaukee, which might not be as prevalent in other areas of the country is that it isn’t only Catholic schools. Different Christian denominations, primarily Lutheran, as well as unaffiliated Christian, Muslim and Jewish schools seek the funding when their enrollments and funding decline. The assumption here is that they are religious schools, so they must have their student’s best interest at heart. While there are many fine religious schools, I don’t believe they should be receiving tax money, and I resent it immensely that my property taxes increased dramatically to support religious and charter schools, and that there is no accountability. That is truly taxation without representation in my book.
On line education is the elephant in the room… especially when it is combined with loose home school regulations and the de-regulation that charters have. Here’s an article I wrote for Education Week in 2003 that describes a home-school hybrid that could be a way for public schools to integrate online learning opportunities:
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2003/12/03/14gerson.h23.html
Note that this was written before YouTube, MOOCs, and Khan Academy… all of which have a huge potential to erode public schooling’s factory model…
Virtual schools have turned into a for-profit cash cow that produce poor results for kids.
Maybe because they became profit centers, not education centers
Well, charter schools do advertise themselves as “private school-like atmosphere…publicly funded.”
Like I said on Twitter. I don’t get it. Nobody addressed the point that participation in charters are suppose to be by lottery. How is that hurting private schools? Are only private schools’ students in the lottery? Do they have a preference in the pick?
read the report.
1/3 of the kids who enroll in elementary charters transfer from private schools, mostly Catholic.
the private schools lose enrollment, lose dollars;some close.
That hurts.
the other point is that many children whose parents now pay tuition switch to charters and the state has to pay their way. Less money for public schools.
Here are some links to what happened when a Catholic school in Missouri leased its building to a Concept charter school:
http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/education/article_2b211b49-7def-5f13-afb1-dc97ed8bf5a5.html
http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/education/article_69f7a0d4-9f16-508b-aa41-300e035dfceb.html
I’m surprised anyone finds this report unusual. In private school, most parents are paying tuition out of their own pocket. In charter schools, the tuition is paid with public tax dollars. Talk about your no brainer!
Some years ago, mortgages at lower interest rates became available. Pundits proclaimed this would be a boon to the home construction industry. But that didn’t happen. Why?
Thousands of home owners, seeing the opportunity to lower they existing house payment, rushed in and dried up the mortgage fund pool with refinances. The home building industry say no benefit at all. The parallel seems obvious to me.
Parents paying private school tuition will flock to charter schools so they can have tax payer pay the tuition costs, saving the parents a great deal of money. I’m only surprised that the stampede hasn’t been much larger. But wait, there more time for folks to take advantage of this opportunity. This could just be the first swell of a tsunami like migration from private schools to charter schools.
Charter school laws vary from state to state as do charter schools themselves. Many are not done by lottery.
Goal is to tear down public/government system. Replace it with one size fits all, FEDERAL system. ALA, Russia, China,Japan. Not a good thing….