California Charter School Finance

How Are California Charter Schools Funded?
California's charter schools are funded much like other non-charter California public schools. They receive funding from local property taxes, state education aid and categorical funding programs, the California Lottery, the federal government, fundraising, and other sources. They are prohibited from charging tuition, but may charge fees for certain items to the same extent as non-charter public schools may.

California's original charter school laws contained many unclear legal provisions that generally attempted to provide charter schools with a mix of funding entitlements that were similar to those received by the charter-granting school districts. This system, however, proved unworkable and was replaced in 1999 by a new system that attempted to simplify and clarify California charter schools' funding entitlements. Our article entitled, "New Charter School Funding System, Special Education Funding, and Attendance Accounting Laws" provides a brief overview and explanation of this relatively new system in terms that are understandable to the lay reader. The specific programs and funding rates referenced in this piece, however, vary from year-to-year and topical updates in our Charter Currents publication provide a comprehensive overview of these changes. The Spring 2007 issue of Currents contained the most recent update on fiscal matters at the time this page was last edited. Click here for details on charter school funding basics.

Resources

California Charter School Finance book, written by Eric Premack, provides a much more detailed (121 page) description of California's charter school funding system and provides a comprehensive overview of California charter school finance. It offers a detailed explanation of the fiscal-related provisions in California's charter legislation and explains how both "converted" and "new-start" charter schools calculate their revenues, establish their fiscal relationship with their sponsor district, develop a basic budget and financial plan, and establish financial management systems and policies.  CSDC also offers financial planning, management, and other related workshops to help California's charter community to understand these increasingly complex and rapidly-evolving charter school funding laws and systems.

Charter School Business Plan Basics. This is an outline for a very basic charter school business plan, including a sample operating budget, monthly cash flow projection, and long-term fiscal plan. Charter school developers should consider developing such a plan an absolute necessity and an integral part of their school design and development effort. We also recommend developing a start-up budget like the one linked below to estimate their "one-time" costs to open their school.

Sample Start-up Budget. This simple start-up budget shows projected post-approval start-up costs for a hypothetical, 75-student, elementary school. Such a budget is one of several essential components of all charter school startup efforts.

Laws governing hourly ("summer school") programs. This is a compilation of laws governing California's supplemental hourly instruction ("summer school") funding programs.

Other Links

Charter School Finance. For the uscharterschools website's fiscal management page with tips on budget development and fiscal planning.

Charter School Grants are often used by charter schools to assist them with both planning the school and to supplement state funding for operating costs.

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