W. Patric Gregory on Funding for Charter Education (Glastonbury)

Do charter schools deserve the same amount of funding that district public schools receive? Many believe that they do, in fact, 73% of Americans support charter schools, and yet they are still not being funded at the same level as their counterparts. Charter schools only receive 64% of the same amount of funding that district public schools receive.

Charter schools are based on the concepts of educational quality, focusing on the children, and providing safer and stronger communities. It is important to highlight the strong qualities that charter schools provide to show why they need to be funded justly.

Educational Quality
Charter schools exist to provide every child with a quality education. This means that charter schools hold themselves to a higher standard than most public schools. Charter schools only stay up and running for the students if these standards are met on a yearly basis.

Accountability is a foundation that charter schools operate on. If the charter school in question does not perform up to the standards that are set by the state then it will close down. That is why many charter schools outperform the rest of the schools in their playing field. They continuously perform to their highest level, which in turn keeps them open to continue to serve the children.

In New York City the average test scores for both math and reading fall on 35% or below. The Success Academy Charter Schools, founded by Eva Moskowitz a leading figure in the charter school community, have retained an average of 64% for reading scores and 94% for math scores among their 34 charter schools in New York City.

Focusing on the kids
Unlike district public schools where the children are zoned to a school based on where they live, charter schools are run on the choice of the parents that want their children to attend the school. This gives the parents the freedom to choose the school that they believe is the best fit for their child.

Like the parents, teachers also have the choice to choose to work at charter schools where they believe their skill set will help serve the children the best.

Providing a safe community
Since charter schools do not receive the same amount of funding that district public schools receive, many times the charter schools will work with local businesses and other organizations to provide resources for the children. This helps bring the community together as they are coming together to serve the same purpose of helping the children.

Charter Schools deserve funding
Time and time again, charter schools have been proven to be effective educational systems. Besides consistently outscoring the public school system, many of these public schools are learning from charter schools and implementing their techniques into their own systems.
Another achievement that charter schools have accomplished is their success in closing the racial gaps among their schools. According to the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, African American students in charter schools score higher in math and English than those in district public schools.

Charter schools have effectively shown that they function and perform better than district public schools. For this reason and the great work and community building that they provide outside of the classroom shows that charter schools deserve to be funded fairly just like their counterparts.

About the Author

W. Patric Gregory is an experienced business professional from Glastonbury, Connecticut. As leader, Patric is a seasoned strategist and innovator in his field.

To learn more about W. Patric Gregory, click here.