Charter Schools Always Face a Financial Struggle

Kevin Ferris has a piece in the Wall Street Journal on the difficulty that charter schools face funding their facilities.  Ferris uses as his case study First Philadelphia Charter School for Literacy.

As I pointed out in my recent testimony on charter schools in Pennsylvania, these schools receive, on average, over $2,500 less per-pupil than traditional, district run schools.  This lack of funding in spite of the fact that charter schools typically educate underserved, low-income students, and those who struggled in their traditional schools, and (unlike district schools), only receive funding if parents choose them as the best option for their children.