PROVIDENCE – A report released Wednesday by the Rhode Island League of Charter Schools found disparities within the state’s funding formula, noting that charter school students receive less funding than students attending traditional districts, among other differences.
The league put together its 60-page report, titled “Rhode Island Education Funding: Striving for Equity,” to address on how Rhode Island’s education funding system impacts charter schools and their attending students. The report also came about because charter schools, the league says, are “often excluded from studies or mentioned as an afterthought” despite their increased presence in local education and role in educating students from historically underserved areas.
The report states that students attending charter school receive $1,385 less per pupil compared to traditional school districts and $2,873 less than students learning in the state’s major charter sending districts – Providence, Pawtucket and Central Falls. Also, the report states that in the 2022 fiscal year, more than 19% of charter district local funds were from sources other than tuition revenues, whereas traditional districts received just 1% of local funding from non-tuition funding sources.
“Absent these funding sources, students attending charter schools face even larger gaps in revenue when compared to their peers attending traditional districts,” the report states.
The report also notes that both charter and traditional school districts lack additional funding within the state formula to adequately support large populations of multilingual learners and students with disabilities. League Executive Director Chiara Deltito-Sharrott said in a statement more than 60% of students attending charter schools live in economically disadvantaged households and more than 20% are multilingual learners, “both of which we know require more supports and financial resources, yet the state’s funding formula is shortchanging schools.”
“This is an equity issue for all school districts, regardless of the type of school, that needs to be remedied if we hope to improve the education of students across the state,” Deltito-Sharrott said.
The report also offered recommendations to lawmakers on changes to the formula. Among the noted suggestions are expanding the student success factor to include funding for the full range of students needs, taking into account the municipalities’ ability to fund education and, instead, provide support for “concentrated poverty through an additional student success weight.”
The league in its report also suggests lawmakers help provide charter districts with more support for facilities through need-based housing aid reimbursements.
The report
can be read in full here.
James Bessette is the PBN special projects editor, and also covers the nonprofit and education sectors. You may reach him at Bessette@PBN.com. You may also follow him on Twitter at @James_Bessette.
