Yes, and it was our neighbors to the north:
New Hampshire's state board of education has taken the highly unusual step of placing a moratorium on the creation of new charter schools, arguing that the legislature has not adequately funded them and that their costs are poised to balloon in the years ahead.It seems that this sufficiently freaked out the state legislature such that they are considering (and this in fiscally conservative, to put it lightly, New Hampshire) increasing ed funding by $4.9 million.
Board members voted this week deny all applications it receives to open new charters in the state until more funding is provided for those schools.In a letter explaining the decision, board Chairman Tom Raffio said the panel "continues to be supportive of charter schools." But he noted that the board has approved eight new charter schools over the past two years, increasing the state's costs by $5 million. Without additional funding, he said, "it would be inappropriate to approve any new charters schools at this time."
Would someone please alert the Massachusetts Board of Education that charter schools costs money and that our Legislature has not increased education funding to keep up with the charters they've authorized? They appear not to have noticed.
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Here in Washington State, we are currently faced with an initiative (Initiative 1240) that would create 40 charter schools, with no funding attached.
Proponents continually argue that this is just no problem at all because "the money follows the student" (from the neighborhood schools.) Any attempt to point out that additional schools cost money to staff and operate seems to fall on deaf ears.
To make matters worse, our per pupil spending is already much lower than what you get in Massachusetts. I shudder to think what is going to happen to our education budget should this thing pass.
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