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Charter school aid mirrors adequacy rates; VLACS and other charters receive additional grants
Summary
Bureau staff said state charter‑school aid is computed from the adequacy formula but paid in the current year; charter schools also receive an ‘‘additional grant’’ with different rates for VLACS and non‑VLACS schools.
Brian Eaton of the Department of Education’s Bureau of School Finance briefed the committee on how the state funds charter public schools.
Eaton said charter aid is largely derived from the same components as district adequacy (base adequacy, F&R differential, special education differential and ELL differential), but with two key differences: charter aid is paid in the current fiscal year for the students attending (whereas district adequacy is paid on a one‑year lag), and a statutorily defined ‘‘additional grant’’ is added for each charter pupil.
Eaton provided the rates used in the department’s packet: the base adequacy figure matched the packet’s district rate ($4,265.64); the additional grant for non‑VLACS charters was $5,097.96 per pupil (producing a combined base+additional of about $9,363.60 in the packet example), while VLACS (Virtual Learning Academy Charter School) received a smaller additional grant rate ($2,445.15), producing a lower combined per‑pupil amount in that example ($6,710.79). Eaton also noted special education aid is paid to the student’s district of responsibility rather than directly to a charter when the district remains responsible for special education services.
Eaton walked members through multi‑year tables in the packet that show historical ADM and aid totals for each charter school and explained his FY26/FY27 estimates include expected openings and enrollment trends as well as carryforward for schools that plan to expand. He also reminded the committee that changes to adequacy rates typically cascade to charter aid because the charter formulas reference the same statutory adequacy rates.
Ending: Staff said the department will provide the committee with the FY24 final payments and estimated FY26/FY27 charter aid by school for budget deliberations.
