According to a study by the watchdog group In the Public Interest, The public schools of the small West Contra School School District in California lose $27.9 million each year due to charter schools, a loss of nearly $1,000 for each student in the public schools. The majority of students suffer budget cuts so a small proportion can attend charter schools that may be no better and may close mid-year.
As of 2016-17, the school year for which the costs in this report were calculated, 28,518 students attended WCCUSD’s traditional public schools, while 4,606 students—14 percent of the total student population—were enrolled in 12 charter schools within the district’s physical boundaries. More recent data indicate an explosion in charter school enrollment. The proportion of WCCUSD students attending charter schools has more than doubled in four years, from 8 percent of the district total in the 2014 -15 school year to 17 percent this year.
The costs of charter schools
When students transfer to charter schools, funding for their education follows—but costs remain. Because charter schools pull students from multiple schools and grade levels, it’s rare that individual traditional public schools can reduce expenses enough to make up for the lost revenue. While WCCUSD schools have 14 percent fewer students to serve, a school cannot adjust expenses by, for example, cutting 14 percent of its principal, heating bill, parking lot paving, internet service, or building maintenance. The district also cannot proportionately cut administrative tasks such as bus route planning, teacher training, grant writing, and budget development. Because these central costs cannot be cut, districts are forced to cut services provided to traditional public school students.
Even if such cuts were possible, districts are legally responsible for serving all students in the community and must maintain adequate facilities to reabsorb students when inherently risky charter schools fail. During the 2016 -17 school year alone, 51 California charter schools either closed or were converted into traditional public schools.3
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Charters are BAD.
Borrowed from Abraham Lincoln with some revisions:
The Corporate Charter School Industry can fool all the people some of the time and some of the people all of the time, but the power-hungry, two-faced, greedy, lying, manipulating, child-abusing, Corporate Charter School Industry cannot fool all the people all the time.
Here’s a Bloomberg opinion piece promoting ed reform. The article is titled “Democrats, don’t give up on ed reform”
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/audio/2019-07-05/don-t-give-up-on-education-reform-editorial-podcast
Read this from the perspective of a public school student, family or supporter and try to find ANYTHING positive this “movement” offers us.
We get tests. That’s the sole ed reform policy on offer to public school families. That’s their entire contribution to 90% of families and students- they offer us standardized tests.
It’s such an echo chamber no one in ed reform even notices this. They draft article after article promoting their “movement” and it never occurs to any of them that they completely exclude 90% of students and families from ANY upside. That’s how insular it is.
Ed reform is great if you’re a charter or private school student or family. However- if you’re a public school student or family – like 90% of families- they offer only testing. Unsurprisingly perhaps, public school families are starting to reject this. None of them should be surprised. It’s a negative and grim agenda for any student outside a charter or private school.
I listened to the propaganda from Bloomberg. “Democrats shouldn’t abandon policies that improve public schools.” Private charter schools do not improve public schools because they take their funding. What research has shown to improve outcomes are smaller classes, small group instruction, wrap around services and caring, trained human teachers. None of these are a priority in so-called reform. All reform does is move public money into private pockets.
Retired teacher, exactly right.
You got that right, RT! Thanks to Diane, NPE, and virtually every commentator on this blog, we get it. Now we’ve got some work to do to make sure people outside of this educated circle will get it.
When you see an article with the headline, “Democrats, Don’t Give Up on Education Reform,” it means that Democrats have given up on education reform.
I wish I could be so optimistic that your conclusion was true. . .
. . . but I am not.
It’s anecdotal of course but I would say the biggest change in my local public school over 25 years has been they offer many more courses in high school.
It’s popular. People like it. I think it’s probably good for students. But ed reform had absolutely nothing to do with it. In many ways they worked against it, since they cut public school budgets in Ohio every year for the last 9 and added mandates that squeezed out programs and policies that the school comes up with and the local public supports. They’re a net loss to our students.
Why would public school students and families and teachers support this “movement”? They never ask that? That occurs to none of them?
Anytime charters represent more than 10% of student population, the local public schools begin to financially fail.