6c6f9896_nce_for_Public_Charter_Schools__Charter_Law_Description
[State] Pennsylvania [Score] 0 [Charter Law Description] 
Pennsylvania law provides that relevant funding is to follow students based on the average school district per-pupil budgeted expenditure of the previous year, not including any capital or debt service expenditures. For regional charter schools and nonresident students, the law provides that funds must come from the school district of a student’s residence. In practice, the amount received is not necessarily equitable, depending upon the calculations of the district. Pennsylvania law provides that state subsidy funds flow through the district to the school via 12 equal monthly payments, with the state secretary of education able to automatically divert funds to charter schools from districts not paying on time (although there are no penalties for districts that delay such payments). Pennsylvania law provides that federal funds for categorical programs go directly to the charter schools, although there are still some categorical grants structured only for school district eligibility (not LEA eligibility). Pennsylvania law provides that districts must provide transportation to resident students enrolled in a charter school located within 10 miles outside district boundaries or enrolled in a regional charter school of which their school district is a part. The law also provides that if a school district does not provide the required transportation, the state department of education is authorized to deduct the expenses from the school district and pay it to the charter. In a national study of charter school funding (University of Arkansas, Charter School Funding: Inequity Expands, 2014), Pennsylvania charter schools were receiving on average $12,175 per pupil in public funds, while traditional public schools would have received $17,989 for those students. As a result, the state’s charter schools were receiving $5,814 per pupil—or 32.3 percent—less than what the traditional public schools would have received for those students. This figure includes all sources of funding, and analysis reveals significant continued inequities for both operational and 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