6c6f9896_nce_for_Public_Charter_Schools__Charter_Law_Description
[State] Massachusetts [Score] 4 [Charter Law Description] 
Massachusetts law provides that commonwealth charter schools are funded as follows: The commonwealth shall pay a tuition amount to the charter school, which shall be the sum of the tuition amounts calculated separately for each district sending students to the charter school. Tuition amounts for each sending district shall be calculated by the department of education using the formula set forth in state law, to reflect, as much as practicable, the actual per pupil spending amount that would be expended in the district if the students attended the district schools. The tuition amount shall be calculated separately for each district sending students to a charter school, and for each charter school to which a district sends students. Each district’s per pupil tuition amount for each charter school to which it sends students shall include a per pupil foundation budget component, adjusted to reflect the actual net school spending in the sending district. Massachusetts laws and regulation provide equal access to all applicable categorical federal and state funding, and clear guidance on the pass-through of such funds, including for charter schools that are significantly expanding. Massachusetts law requires school districts to provide transportation to charter school students on the same basis as it is provided to regular public school students in the district. In providing such transportation, the law requires districts to accommodate the particular school year and school day of the charter school, in accordance with state law. If a district and a charter school cannot reach agreement about the service to be provided, and if the charter school finds an alternative that costs the same as or less than the average cost of transportation per student in the district, the law allows the charter school to provide its own transportation services to students eligible for transportation. In such cases, the law provides that the costs for such services will be deducted from a district's account on a quarterly basis, based on estimated and actual expenditures for transportation. In a national study of charter school funding (University of Arkansas, Charter School Funding: Inequity Expands, 2014), Massachusetts charter schools were receiving on average $12,861 per pupil in public funds, while traditional public schools would have received $17,555 for those students. As a result, the state’s charter schools were receiving $4,694 per pupil—or 26.7 percent—less than what the traditional public schools would have received for those students. This figure includes all sources of funding, and analysis reveals some continued inequities for operational and significant inequities for capital funding (see Component #19 for information on capital issues).
18. Equitable Operational Funding and Equal Access to All State and Federal Categorical Funding | National Alliance for Public Charter Schools
Charter Law Description