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Does my charter school kid take away from yours?
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It happened again.
I was standing in line at my favorite coffee shop when I ran into a mom from years back.
We hugged, air kissed, and OMG’d before asking about each other’s families. We soon determined that neither of us had moved and still lived within a couple of miles. She casually asked:
“Where do your kids go to school?”
“We’re in the charter school,” I replied. “And yours?”
Her smile had frozen slightly as she answered the name of the neighborhood school.
“You know, you are responsible for taking away funds from our school by going to that charter school,” she said straight faced.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Well, since your kids are supposed to be at my kid’s school and the per-kid-money goes to the school your kid goes to—my kid’s school is affected when you defect,” the woman explained.
“Oh that,” I answered. “In that case your kid is taking away from my charter school by not attending there.”
She did not see the parellell.
But isn’t that the truth? If we follow the logic that every child who does not attend the same school as our kids is “taking away” from the schools which they don’t attend—doesn’t that formula work the same in reverse?
Yes, state and federal funding--per pupil revenue (PPR)—follows the student to the public school which they are enrolled. But doesn’t that just plain make sense? Isn’t it the school which our student attends that actually pays for the expense of educating the kid?
The only solution to have all funding go to one single school--would be to only have one school for all the kids in the state.
Boy! That would sure save us a lot of money. I can see it now; hundreds of thousands of kids filing single line into an education superdome to be schooled by one teacher at the fifty yard line. It would certainly solve that all state, federal, local tax, grants and donations went to the same facility.
That would be a swell idea if education quality was not an issue. But good education is not possible if the good for the child is not being considered.
And I can guarantee that it was the good our children which both the coffee shop mom and I had in mind when we both enrolled in two different schools.
There is not one school which is perfect for all kids. A parent’s right to choosing the best education fit for his/her children should never be reduced to an issue of your kids versus mine.
For other charter school myths, here is a sampling:
Do picky charters pick their students?
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