Charter School Funding Should be Cut, Legislative Committee Says (NM)

July 27, 2010

In the face of a state budget crisis, New Mexico should cut funding for existing charters and temporarily halt approvals of new charter schools, says a new report released Friday by the Legislative Finance Committee (LFC).

But that could lead to the closure of “90 percent” of the state’s charter schools, New Mexico Coalition for Charter Schools Director Lisa Grover warned.

Many charters don’t do a good job of managing money, the LFC found. And while Albuquerque-area charter schools were chastised by State Auditor Hector Balderas earlier this year, public school districts across the state have also turned in late and problematic audits, The Independent reported in May. None of the eight school districts Balderas recently designated as “at risk” of fraud were charters.

The statewide LFC audit and program review of 16 charter schools concluded that charters’ academic performance does not outshine that of other public schools, although the study did not address whether or not students in charters are more likely to have under-performed at traditional schools.

Charters, which are generally smaller schools, spend an average of 23 percent of their operational funds on administration, compared to 12 percent among public school districts, the LFC review found.

Citing these problems and a spate of late and problematic charter school audits, the LFC recommended cuts in funding for charters’ leases of school buildings and should lose $24 million in small school size adjustment funding.

That money should be reallocated to all schools, the report concludes.

Taos Academy receives 45 percent of its $928,000 in state funding from the small schools adjustment, for example.

The LFC spotlighted questionable purchases by charter schools and noted that charters spend an average of $9,200 per student, compared to an average of $7,300 per student by other public schools.