THE PERIMETER PRIMATE: OUSD Expenditures Per Pupil: Charter vs. Traditional Public Schools

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

OUSD Expenditures Per Pupil: Charter vs. Traditional Public Schools

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This is a comparison between per pupil spending at Oakland Unified School District’s charter schools and its traditional public schools. The figures were obtained from the SARCs (School Accountability Report Cards) currently posted on the OUSD Web site, section VIII - School Finances.*

OUSD Charter Schools
Expenditures Per Pupil (Fiscal Year 2006-07)	Expenditures Per Pupil (Basic)	Expenditures Per Pupil (Supplemental)	Total Expenditures Per Pupil
MEDIAN	$6950	$1200	$8764
RANGE	$5113-$8757	$276-$5505	$5931-13290
AVERAGE	$7063	$1693	$8740

OUSD Traditional Public Schools
Expenditures Per Pupil (Fiscal Year 2006-07)	Expenditures Per Pupil (Basic)	Expenditures Per Pupil (Supplemental)	Total Expenditures Per Pupil
MEDIAN	$5015	$1613	$6492
RANGE	$4126-$6354	$241-$2899	$4630-$8886
AVERAGE	$4973	$1533	$6506

Charter Schools: Highest Expenditures Per Pupil (Fiscal Year 2006-07)
1. Oakland Military Institute	$13290
2. Oakland School For the Arts	$11000
3. Millsmont Academy	$10454
4. American Indian Public Charter School II	$9954
5. Monarch Academy	$9712

The highest expenditures per pupil in all of OUSD are at the two charter schools which were launched and are actively supported by former Oakland mayor Jerry Brown: the Oakland Military Institute (OMI) and the Oakland School for the Arts (OSA).

Spending at OMI exceeded the top per pupil spending at any traditional public school by $4404.

Spending at OSA exceeded the top per pupil spending at any traditional public school by $2114.

Traditional public schools: Highest Expenditures Per Pupil (Fiscal Year 2006-07)
1. Sankofa	$8886
2. Burkhalter	$8052
3. EnCompass	$8044
4. Acorn Woodland	$7995
5. Maxwell Park	$7847
6. PLACE	$7811
7. International Community	$7779
8. Think College Now	$7703
9. Reach	$7687
10. Rise	$7648

Charter Schools: Lowest Expenditures Per Pupil (Fiscal Year 2006-07)
1. Education for Change Achieve Academy	$5931
2. American Indian Public High School**	$6122
3. Education for Change at Cox	$7175
4. Oakland Charter High	$7438
5. Oakland Charter Academy	$7450

** Oddly, this amount does not reflect a Walton Family Foundation gift of $230,000 given to the American Indian Public High School in 2006 (2007 Form 990, for grants given in 2006). During 2006-07, this school's total student body was 72 students. This would mean an additional $3194.44 per pupil, that is, if the money was spent on students at the school it was designated for. Maybe this large amount of money would be reflected in per pupil expenditures for a different year. Or, perhaps the grantors place loose, or no, restrictions on how the grantees spend the money. It would be illuminating if the District, or some other entity, would investigate this detail.

Traditional public schools: Lowest Expenditures Per Pupil (Fiscal Year 2006-07)
1. Montera	$4630
2. Skyline HS	$4873
3. Joaquin Miller	$5065
4. Chabot Elementary	$5125
5. Edna Brewer	$5266
6. Thornhill	$5358
7. Oakland High	$5384
8. Hillcrest	$5440
9. Bret Harte	$5445
10. Roosevelt Middle	$5530

The complete tables are below.

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OUSD Charter Schools
Expenditures Per Pupil (Fiscal Year 2006-07)	Expenditures Per Pupil (Basic)	Expenditures Per Pupil (Supplemental)	Total Expenditures Per Pupil
American Indian Public Charter School	Not specified	Not specified	$8297
American Indian Public Charter School II	Not specified	Not specified	$9954
American Indian Public High School	Not specified	Not specified	$6122
Aviation High School	$8276	$1408	$9684
BayTech	$5113	$3609	$8722
Berkley Maynard Academy	$6530	$2234	$8764
Civicorps Elementary	Not specified	Not specified	$7597
COVA	$7000	$1000	$8000
East Oakland Leadership Academy	$6709	$2125	$8834
Education for Change Achieve Academy	$5517	$414	$5931
Education for Change at Cox	$5431	$1764	$7175
Lighthouse Community Charter High School	$8757	$838	$9505
Lighthouse Community Charter School	$8757	$838	$9505
Lionel Wilson	Not specified	Not specified	$8974
LPS College Park	$7292	$276	$7568
Millsmont Academy	Not specified	Not specified	$10454
Monarch Academy	Not specified	Not specified	$9712
North Oakland Community Charter	Not specified	Not specified	$8769
Oakland Charter Academy*	$6900	$550	$7450
Oakland Charter High*	$6888	$550	$7438
Oakland Military Institute	$7785	$5505	$13290
Oakland School For the Arts	$7000	$4000	$11000
Oakland Unity High School	$8691	$677	$9368
Reems Academy	$6357	$1301	$7657
MEDIAN	$6950	$1200	$8764
RANGE	$5113-$8757	$276-$5505	$5931-13290
AVERAGE	$7063	$1693	$8740

*Addition error appears in SARC report. This is the correct total.

OUSD Traditional Public Schools
Expenditures Per Pupil (Fiscal Year 2006-07)	Expenditures Per Pupil (Basic)	Expenditures Per Pupil (Supplemental)	Total Expenditures Per Pupil
Acorn Woodland	$5,440	$2555	$7995
Allendale	$4970	$1792	$6762
Alliance Academy	$4174	$1487	$5661
Ascend	$5035	$2214	$7250
Bella Vista	$5016	$1455	$6471
Bret Harte	$4367	$1077	$5445
Bridges Academy at Melrose	$4894	$1960	$6855
Brookfield Elementary	$4609	$1088	$5698
Burkhalter	$6210	$1842	$8052
Business and Information Technology	$4996	$1305	$6301
Carl Munck	$5036	$921	$5957
Chabot Elementary	$4884	$241	$5125
Claremont	$4743	$1827	$6571
Cleveland	$4844	$1314	$6158
Coliseum College Prep Academy	$4531	$2258	$6789
College Preparatory and Architecture Academy	$4907	$1584	$6492
Crocker Highlands	$5064	$560	$5624
East Oakland School of the Arts	$5116	$1361	$6476
Edna Brewer	$4126	$1140	$5266
Elmhurst Community Prep	$4231	$1668	$5899
Emerson Elementary	$4760	$1818	$6579
EnCompass	$5758	$2286	$8044
Esperanza	$5177	$2239	$7417
EXCEL	$4472	$1654	$6126
Explore	$4851	$1964	$6814
Far West	$5021	$919	$5941
Franklin	$4986	$1380	$6366
Fred T. Korematsu Discovery Academy	$5219	$1900	$7119
Frick	$4376	$1695	$6071
Fruitvale Elementary	$4924	$778	$5702
Garfield	$5143	$1674	$6817
Glenview	$5345	$1193	$6538
Grass Valley	$5390	$881	$6271
Hillcrest	$5003	$438	$5440
Hoover	$5179	$2011	$7190
Horace Mann	$5015	$2284	$7299
Howard	$5039	$917	$5957
International Community	$5711	$2068	$7779
Joaquin Miller	$4611	$453	$5065
Kaiser	$5133	$659	$5792
La Escuelita	$5218	$1646	$6865
Lafayette	$5289	$1948	$7237
Lakeview	$5214	$1302	$6516
Laurel	$5093	$1429	$6522
Lazear	$5087	$1906	$6994
Leadership Prep HS	$4717	$1530	$6248
LIFE Academy	$4320	$1653	$5973
Lincoln	$5125	$1642	$6767
Madison Middle	$4779	$1752	$6532
Mandela HS	$4700	$1549	$6250
Manzanita Community	$5043	$1917	$6960
Markham	$5065	$1424	$6489
Marshall	$4620	$1097	$5718
Martin Luther King, Jr.	$5526	$1931	$7457
Maxwell Park	$5795	$2052	$7847
Media College Prep	$4907	$1584	$6492
Melrose Leadership	$4611	$2899	$7511
MetWest	$5539	$913	$6452
Montclair	$5094	$528	$5622
Montera	$4282	$347	$4630
New Highland Academy	$4877	$1892	$6770
Oakland High	$4192	$1191	$5384
Oakland Technical HS	$4866	$851	$5718
Peralta	$5276	$1270	$6547
Piedmont	$5326	$1317	$6644
PLACE	$5552	$2259	$7811
Reach	$5676	$2011	$7687
Redwood Heights	$5159	$551	$5710
Rise	$5600	$2048	$7648
Robeson School of VPA	$4732	$1441	$6173
Roosevelt Middle	$4323	$1206	$5530
ROOTS International	$4299	$1833	$6133
Sankofa	$6354	$2532	$8886
Santa Fe	$5045	$1949	$6994
Sequoia	$5199	$1684	$6883
Skyline HS	$4182	$690	$4873
Sobrante Park	$5209	$2164	$7373
Think College Now	$5161	$2541	$7703
Thornhill	$5115	$243	$5358
United for Success	$4153	$1808	$5961
Urban Promise Academy	$4872	$2692	$7564
Westlake Middle	$4605	$1485	$6090
YES, Youth Empowerment	$4617	$1673	$6291
MEDIAN	$5015	$1613	$6492
RANGE	$4126-$6354	$241-$2899	$4630-$8886
AVERAGE	$4973	$1533	$6506

PLEASE NOTE: SARCs were not provided online for some charter schools which were in operation during the specified years. Some of the schools listed on 11/25/09 had SARCs which did not include expenditures for the specified year because they were not yet open. Also, I relabeled MEAN as MEDIAN, after someone corrected me about the use of those terms. Thank you, P.

The SARCs for 2008-09, which would cite expenditures for 2007-08, are not yet publicly available.

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* ASAM schools (Alternative School Accountability Model) were not included: Community Day, Street Academy, and Dewey, as well as the Sojourner Truth Independent Study program.

4 comments:

The Perimeter Primate said...: http://www.ibabuzz.com/education/2009/11/24/the-charter-movement-5000-new-schools-in-18-years/comment-page-1/#comment-22943

Steven Weinberg Says:
November 27th, 2009 at 5:35 pm

Thank you Sharon for your informative postings on this subject. I was impressed by the fact that even the lowest funded charter schools spent more per student than the average district school.

You asked for details about the differences between basic and supplemental funding, and why they would vary so much from school to school. For regular OUSD schools the basic funding is General Fund money that is alloted to each school based on Average Daily Attendance. It varies by grade level, with K-5 schools getting the most, because of the state’s class size reduction program in grades K-3. High schools get a little more than middle schools because of the complexity of the master programs at that level. In addition, the district gives some additional basic money to very small schools, since every school, regardless of size, has some fixed expenses: principal, secretary, custodial, etc. (EnCompass, Sankofa, and Burhalter all made the highest expenditure list because they are small schools.)

Most basic funds are used for teachers, site administrators, custodial staff, one secretary, and perhaps an attendance clerk, and basic supplies, textbooks, and office equipment.

Supplemental funds come from various funding sources and have limits as to how they can be spent. The largest program is the federal Title One program. These funds are allotted to schools based on the number of students who qualify for the free and reduced price lunch program.

Schools with too small a percentage of students in this category receive no Title One funds. (This probably explains all the schools on the lowest expenditure list.) The state has its own comp ed program that follows the same rules for allotting funds. These funds usually provide for extra teachers or classified staff to give students additional assistance. They can pay for staff development to improve teacher skills. They can pay for Teachers on Special Assignment to train and support the rest of the staff in meeting the needs of underperforming students. They can pay for books and materials that will help those students.

The state also provides extra funds for each English Language Learner at a school. This money must be spent to improve the education of those students.

There are many other smaller state programs. Nineteen Oakland schools have Quality Education Investment Act (QEIA) grants that provide an extra $600/K-5 student, $900/6-8 student, and $1,000/9-12 student. These funds are used primarily for class size reduction. QEIA schools were based on need, as shown by low state test scores. (Maxwell Park and ACORN made the highest expenditure list because they are QEIA schools.)

I am not sure what is included in these categories for charter schools, but Ben Chavis of American Indian Charter once told me that Title One funds for his school were based on the percentage of low income students at nearby regular schools. I’m not sure if that was really the case, or if it still is, but if it is that seems unfair.

I’m sorry this post is so long, but even at this length it oversimplifies the school budgeting process and rules, which were always complex, and this year have become more so as a result of state funding cuts and federal stimulus money.; November 27, 2009 at 7:05 PM
nikto said...: And Charter Schools keep finding more ways to appropriate Public Moneys away from Public Schools and INTO their own voracious Charter-Maw.

This just might make you nauseous:

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/5301; November 29, 2009 at 7:51 PM
marsha said...: Thanks for your information on American Indian Public high School SAT scores. My son attends the school. So, I followed up on what you wrote regarding the SAT test results. I learned that "every student" at AIPHS must take the PSAT and SAT at the school. The cost for any test are paid by AIPHS. I asked to look at the 11th grade SAT test results for this year which is my son's grade level. These students had an average SAT score of 1826.5 for all 11th graders. I recommend you contact the school and see for yourself. We LOVE the school!; April 6, 2011 at 12:15 AM
The Perimeter Primate said...: Just to clarify.

The SAT scores posted on CDE were only for the 12th grade class, the enrollment of which was 23 students (but only 19 kids took the test).

The SAT scores do not reflect a set of scores which are combined with those of other grade levels, something which one commenter on Katy Murphy's blog once stated as a way to explain why they were so low.

Based on what you're saying, Marsha, the 11th grade crop of kids should reflect a different range of scores in a higher tier. It's a shame the CDE takes so long to post those results to the public.; April 6, 2011 at 8:59 AM

Inform yourself about the Gulen movement!

1. WATCH the Gulen Movement 101: Session One webinar presentation (1/22/2014)
2. READ the "Expose the Gulen Movement" report.
3. LISTEN to my interview with At The Chalk Face , slide marker to 32:00 min. (5/19/2013)
4. WATCH the 60 Minutes segment "U.S. charter schools tied to powerful Turkish imam" broadcast. (5/13/2012)
5. READ my response to the 60 Minutes piece.
6. READ my guest article about Gulen charter schools published by The Washington Post. (3/27/2012)
7. WATCH my interview talking about Gulen charter schools, or my presentation at LaborFest (segment between 49:18 min. & 1:07:36 min.)
8. READ my postings labeled "Gulen movement" HERE.

As one observer tweeted, "U.S. media have focused too much on the Islamic nature of the Gulen movement. Real concern is its shady dealings and improprieties."

Please be aware that Gulenists have created a large number of anonymously-operated damage control websites. They started to appear a few months after publication of Greg Toppo's article in USA Today (August 2010).

WE CAN DO IT!

Jim Hightower on populism:

"... what populism is at its essence is just a determined focus on helping people be able to get out of the iron grip of the corporate power that is overwhelming our economy, our environment, energy, the media, government."

Jim Hightower on plutocracy:

"Plutocracy and democracy don't mix."

More Jim Hightower HERE.
Read his Lowdown newsletter HERE.

Plutocracy is rule by the wealthy, or power provided by wealth. In a plutocracy, the degree of economic inequality is high while the level of social mobility is low.

On Bill Gates' ed reform

Joel Shatzky's comment on Huffington Post:

The inferior "test-prep" agenda which bases the pedagogically fraudulent "data" standardized test scores serves as a way of diverting the concerns of working parents who hope that better test scores will lead to better job opportunities for their children. If they realized that they were being given a con job, they might consider other, more "active" forms of political and social protest than simply lobbying for more money for charter and public schools.

New wealth gap report

Research and Policy Brief from the Institute on Assets and Social Policy, Brandeis University, May 2010:

"New evidence reveals that the wealth gap between white and African-American families has more than quadrupled over the course of a generation."

You absolutely must click on this link to view the graph.

Now compare that graph to the one you'll see here.

Now read this entry.

And if you are a person who blames the schools, or believes they are responsible for fixing these problems, you can stop that type of thinking right now.

A Keeper

Posted on the Oakland Public School Parents listserv by a member:*

As a public health nurse, I am working with a generation of young parents who were drug-exposed, who are now having children who are drug-exposed, and it's a whole new ballgame. Many who were premature and will carry some deficits for life.

There are also many other families who have several generations of all kinds of abuse, not enough to eat, violence in and out of their homes, as well as chronic exposure to pollution and nutritional deficits. And there are regular people in the same neighborhoods who are just trying to live, but are poor and can't get ahead.

And there is major grief, and continuous LOSS. So many folks have lost so many folks, people around them dying, of one thing or another, every month almost. Young people (cousins, brothers, friends) dying from violent means, the elders dying too young of chronic disease and disparities in health care, among other things.

What we know about learning and development is that stressed nervous systems CANNOT learn, and that's what we have. Children with many major stressors. Abandonment, attachment disorders, fear, post traumatic stress, sadness, inability to trust or sleep. Many children. Many.

Resulting in: Lack of impulse control, lack of executive function, difficulty in expressing and controlling emotions, difficulty in sleeping, holding still, and paying attention, not to mention following directions and prioritizing tasks.

Our teachers will (perhaps already do) need more training, support, and smaller class sizes. They need major support and help with mental health issues. We really need some kind of expanded vocational track for those who can't perform even at the community college level.

We can't expect teachers to undo years and years of living. The availability of universal preschool would help. Sometimes a classroom is the first kindly, safe, structured, stimulating environment a child encounters.

Wise insights such as these are never uttered by people like Eli Broad, Joel Klein, Michelle Rhee, Arne Duncan, Joe Williams, or any others who are of this type of school reform ilk. And this is why I know for certain that they just don't "get it." Maybe they don’t want to, OR maybe they don’t care.

* Thank you, B.R.

What Children Need

From Playing to Learn by Susan Engel (New York Times, 2/1/2010):

"Our current educational approach — and the testing that is driving it — is completely at odds with what scientists understand about how children develop during the elementary school years and has led to a curriculum that is strangling children and teachers alike.

…Simply put, what children need to do in elementary school is not to cram for high school or college, but to develop ways of thinking and behaving that will lead to valuable knowledge and skills later on."

And to tag onto that, check out this video about the wood shop at one of Oakland's middle schools.

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Wednesday, November 25, 2009

OUSD Expenditures Per Pupil: Charter vs. Traditional Public Schools

4 comments: