At the School Board meeting this week, Director of Schools Jesse Register
said the Metro Nashville Public Schools would need an additional $38.4 million in the 2014-15 fiscal year budget over
the current budget approved in June. The reason for this massive increase? Charter schools. (See Metro school officials fear 'tipping point' coming with charter costs.)
Register is claiming that teachers will not get a step pay increase without the additional funding. This is just dirty politics pitting teachers against charters.
Under the state’s charter school law, state funding follows the student. If a student attends a charter school, that money goes to the charter. Metro gets about $9,200 in state funds for every student. MNPS officials contend that the money
lost when students leave for charter schools is not offset by a matching
drop in expenses. Metro still has to run the same bus routes, they say, still must have an many classrooms and teachers and there is no reduction in overhead.
Here is why that is a phony argument. Enrollment is growing and with the district's growing enrollment, it gets more revenue from
the State BEP finance system for each student that comes into the
district. The new students coming into the district about equals the
number of students leaving district schools and going to charter
schools. So those "empty" district seats are really getting replaced by
new students coming in.
The district bureaucracy and overhead eats up hundreds of millions of dollars. A
lot of dollars don't flow to classrooms for children. If teachers want
to get mad for not getting raises, they can point fingers at Dr. Register
for running a top heavy bloated central administration. It is a false
choice for a district leader to say we can't trim any costs or move any
costs around. Nothing is a fixed cost. If they wanted to fund charters
AND give teachers a step raise increase, they could easily do so by
cutting inefficient programs or top heavy central office costs.
It is worth noting that $21.8 million of the proposed $38.4 million they "need" is blamed on charters. What about the other $17 million? Where is
that going? Some may go to pension, insurance increases, etc...but some
of that money represents new spending CHOICES.
Charter schools get results and they get much better results with far less money. Does anyone think that if a charter school was taking over the old Ward Belmont School that a charter would spend $8.2 million to convert what was once was a school back into a school?
Teachers should not let the administration instill in them envy and resentment of charter school. Charters pay their teachers more, and get less per
pupil funding than district schools do. Maybe district teachers can go to
work for charters and make more money and enjoy their profession more.
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