N.J. Charter Schools Receive Less Money From Private Sources Than N.J.'s Traditional Schools

This just out on NJ Advance Media:
Researchers at the University of Arkansas studied 15 states, including New Jersey, and found that traditional public schools receive more than $2,700 more per student than charters, even with non-public dollars included. The data analyzed is from the 2010-11 school year, the most recent available at the time the study began. 
New Jersey was one of only three states in the study where charter schools received less in non-public revenue per pupil than traditional public schools. Traditional public schools received 1.3 percent of funding from private sources, while charters got 1 percent from non-public sources.
One of the hobbyhorses that anti-charter school proponents ride is that student charter school success can partially be attributed to extra funding provided by private foundations. (They might mention, but don't, that one of the reasons N.J. charters might have to beg for money from foundations is because N.J. offers absolutely no facilities aid for charter schools. Also, while current state law says that districts should give 90% of cost per pupil to charters, they actually give about 70%.)

There's lots of examples of charter school-bashing on the basis that, say, grants from the evil empire of Bill and Melinda Gates, who cravenly donated $1.5 billion to childhood immunization initiatives, help charters fund longer school days or higher teacher pay.

Here's one.

Last month the Star-Ledger ran a story praising KIPP NJ because it "sends more African American boys and girls to college than any other in Newark without "creaming off" high-performing kids. (KIPP's demographics reflect Newark's demographics.)

This story provoked temper tantrums from Bruce Baker and his doctoral student Mark Weber, aka Jersey Jazzman. Weber, in addition to insulting the reporter by saying she "was in the tank" for KIPP and that KIPP "fed her talking points,"says that she  "glosses over the fact that KIPP/TEAM has substantial philanthropic support, one of the reasons the KIPP chain spends much more per student than comparable district schools."

According to this new study (to which I have no link yet) N.J. charter school critics need to find a new horse. Or just keep flogging the old one.

Update: here's the link.

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