Toledo Council: Killing choice and raising taxes in one act
Wednesday, October 8th, 2008 By Beth LearWorried about the economy? The price of gas, plummeting home values and increased grocery costs are big concerns for Ohio families. Would you appreciate your elected officials closing your child’s school and increasing your property taxes too? That’s what citizens in Toledo have to look forward to if the teachers’ union and Toledo City Council have their way.
What’s going on? Council is considering “a proposal to require all new schools in Toledo to have a minimum level of facilities, such as a gym and cafeteria”. While it may sound innocuous, it’s a blantant attempt to eliminate charter schools in Lucas county.
Because public charter schools are funded with less money than traditional public schools, they rarely have all the bells and whistles of the multi-million dollar Taj Mahals we call “schools” today, like Toledo’s Waite High School pictured above. Charter schools do not have access to ANY state school facilities dollars. If council and the unions have their way, public charter schools will be forced to spend the money they use for teachers’ salaries to add cafeterias and gymnasiums instead. This is just another ploy to actually force them out of business. And that, my friends, will cost you dearly.
The Buckeye Institute is close to releasing a report detailing the cost to Ohio taxpayers if the Governor, teachers’ unions and their legislative allies succeed at eliminating public charter schools in Ohio. Here’s a taste: Toledo home owners, if your home is worth more than $100,000, expect your property taxes to go up $1,000 or more.
Why? Because charters are a bargain. In Toledo it costs over $12,000 to educate one child in the district school. An average charter student receives $8,515. No money for frills, but enough to provide a safe environment and dedicated teachers.
Oh, and one more thing. It’s disingenuous to say the least for opponents of school choice to say that district schools are losing money because of public charter schools. The truth is the districts are left with fewer students to educate and all the local money still in their coffers. The average charter school student in Toledo takes $923 more state dollars with them when the leave than they would use if they stayed at the district school. HOWEVER, each child leaves behind $4,218 dollars in local funding. Here it is in simple math:
$4,218 – 923 = $3,295
That’s $3,295 left from each students who leaves for a charter school for the district school to distribute among the remaining students. With over 6,500 charter school students, that’s more than $21 million local tax dollars being reinvested in children in the district schools.
The real facts matter and so do the children. Do school choice opponents care about these things?
October 10th, 2008 at 2:23 pm
Dana,
Thanks for reading the blog. Thank you even more for being a teacher. Like our veterans, you perform an invaluable service, which I am not criticizing. I do, however, take issue with some Ohio politicians and union leaders whose sole purpose is to maintain the status quo so they can keep their power and control. This is not in the best interest of Ohio children. Competition has proven to be an effective tool for improving public education (see research on Milwaukee vouchers and our own EdChoice program). Our report on the cost of eliminating charters is due out the end of November – I encourage you to check it out. In the meantime, our website has numerous articles on the accountability issue you bring up, and I encourage you to check those out as well. Charters have many layers of accountability, the most important of these are the parents. And unlike district schools, charters can and have been closed if they fail.