A new report has found that Achievement First’s New York charter schools spend $660 more per pupil than nearby traditional city public schools that serve similiar populations.
Officials of Achievement First, which has several Connecticut charter schools and makes up almost half of the state’s charter seats, has been complaining for years that they are being shortchanged in Connecticut.
In Hartford, the state gives charter schools $9,400 for each student they enroll compared with about $14,000 it gives to Hartford public schools. The $14,000 includes transportation and special education reimbursements. State legislators are considering boosting charter school funding this legislative session.
The study was funded by the Albert Shanker Institute and the Great Lakes Center for Education Research and Practice, which is supported by teacher union affiliates.
Jacqueline was CT Mirror’s Education and Housing Reporter, and an original member of the CT Mirror staff, joining shortly before our January 2010 launch. Her awards include the best-of-show Theodore A. Driscoll Investigative Award from the Connecticut Society of Professional Journalists in 2019 for reporting on inadequate inmate health care, first-place for investigative reporting from the New England Newspaper and Press Association in 2020 for reporting on housing segregation, and two first-place awards from the National Education Writers Association in 2012. She was selected for a prestigious, year-long Propublica Local Reporting Network grant in 2019, exploring a range of affordable and low-income housing issues. Before joining CT Mirror, Jacqueline was a reporter, online editor and website developer for The Washington Post Co.’s Maryland newspaper chains. Jacqueline received an undergraduate degree in journalism from Bowling Green State University and a master’s in public policy from Trinity College.
