Study: Idaho financing program cut charter school facility costs, freed money for teachers

Matthew Joseph, a senior policy adviser for AccelonEd, told the Idaho Senate Education Committee that a combination of state programs and private supports has substantially reduced charter-school facility financing costs in Idaho.

Joseph said the study his group conducted found that, without state support, Idaho charter schools would spend about $1,857 per student on facilities and still be left covering roughly $1,294 per pupil from operating funds. "The bottom line of the study...is just amazing, which is the state so far has spent $0 to do this," Joseph said, adding that the programs have produced "a $113,000,000" savings over 15 years and that, when annualized and converted to local teacher salary equivalents, the savings equal roughly "10 teachers per school".

The nut graf: Joseph described two coordinated policies that he said make the savings possible. The first is a short-term revolving loan fund that provides low- or no-interest loans to new charter schools for roughly the…