Study: Idaho tools cut charter school facility costs, free up funds for teachers

Matthew Joseph, senior policy advisor at AccelinEd, told the Idaho Senate Education Committee that Idaho n interlocking set of programs has sharply reduced charter school facility costs and freed money for teachers and classroom instruction.

Joseph said the state oes not appear to have spent direct appropriations on the program so far and that the combination of a short-term revolving loan fund and a later-stage credit enhancement has produced large savings. "The state so far has spent $0 to do this," Joseph said. He told the committee his organization's analysis shows roughly $113,000,000 in savings over the period studied and that, when annualized against Idaho teacher salaries, the savings equal about 10 teachers per charter school.

The study Joseph described examined three policy levers states use to help charter schools with facilities: direct facility funding, access to surplus district…