Breaking Point: The Cost of Charter Schools for Public School Districts

The unchecked expansion of charter schools in California has led to dire fiscal conditions for the public education system, and public school students are bearing the costs. California’s Charter School Act doesn’t allow school boards to consider how a proposed charter school may impact a district’s educational programs when weighing new charter applications. This is the source of the issue that plagues California’s school districts. To resolve this issue, each school district should produce an annual Economic Impact report assessing the cost of charter expansion in its community, and more targeted analyses should be a required component in the evaluation of new charter applications. Further, public officials at both the local and state levels must be able to take these findings into account when deciding whether to authorize additional charter schools. These two policies can work together to make charter schools work better for the state, school districts, and its students.