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Ken Hirsh
April 28, 2009
In an earlier post, I reviewed some philanthropy statistics for New York City charter schools. The information came from IRS filings (“Form 990”). However, annual charter school financial audits are better and more timely sources for this data. The audits are available about six months earlier than the Form 990’s. Also, the audits present the information in a clearer fashion.
Thanks in part to the New York Freedom of Information Law, I was able to get copies of almost all of the financial audits for the school year ending in 2008. The key page in the audit is called the “Statement of Activities”. Here is a pdf with these statements for the 58 charter schools in my sample. Here is a workbook with my calculations for these schools.
Overall, the total amount of philanthropic contributions for the 58 schools was $25,511,490. The total enrollment was 17,680. This comes out to a per pupil calculation of $1,443 (as compared to $1,175 for my 990-based 2006-07 calculation). The average school philanthropy per pupil was $1,654 (as compared to $1,366). The median school was $1,081 (as compared to $697).
Some of this difference represents growth from one year to the next. Most, though, is attributable to differences in the reporting methodology. In particular, the 990’s do not generally include in-kind donations and the audits do. (I had assumed otherwise in the comment section of the prior post!) Also, I made a change mentioned in the notes below that affect the median calculation.
I encourage charter school operators and other readers to help me to further improve these calculations.
Here are some additional notes:
1. I subtracted out Kipp To College costs because these amounts are not used for current students. This is their alumni program.
2. I averaged across KIPP and Achievement First schools for per pupil philanthropy. These schools route disproportionate amounts of their philanthropy through one school. If I didn’t make this change, the total average would be the same, the average school would be 8% higher and the median school would be 29% lower.
3. The data is missing for Bronx Charter School for the Arts because I have a bad copy of the Statement of Activities.
4. I removed The New York Center for Autism.
5. I included restricted funds.
6. I included in-kind donations.
7. I included fundraising but did not subtract out fundraising expenses.
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April 28th, 2009 8:46 pm
I’m all for more money for schools. But can someone please explain to me how $1443 per CHARTER school pupil is cool, but (per the NYPost), “Rogue” PTA’s paying for teaching assistants in overcrowded classrooms is not?
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April 28th, 2009 10:20 pm
I assume this does not include donations to the charter management companies like Achievement First, Success Charter Network, Uncommon Schools, Harlem Village Academies, etc. I suspect a lot more is going to fund charter schools through these organizations than just to the schools themselves. That said, what exactly is your point with this exercise? Philanthropies, corporations, foundations, wealthy individuals, parents, etc. all donate to schools, though I suspect it’s a lot harder to calculate than adding up data from charter school audits.
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April 29th, 2009 11:55 pm
I haven’t gotten to look deeply at the data you collected, Ken, but I’m curious if there are any emerging patterns in WHERE the money comes from? Also, do we have any sense of whether the contributions are tapering out over time? I know you only looked at one year’s worth of data, but perhaps you have an anecdotal sense or another way of looking at this.
Finally, does the data support the notion that there is a difference between “mom and pop” charter schools without CMO help and relative-brand-names like Achievement First and KIPP?
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April 30th, 2009 9:53 am
Thanks Ken! This was really useful, shared with several colleagues. As others have mentioned though, and as E raised in the prior post, this does not really account for the broader support of the CMO foundations- So for instance KIPP leadrship academy is a longer term training program that trains future KIPP leaders (and probably costs at least 100K per leader), but will not show up on this balance sheet for an individual school. Anecdotally, I do think the CMOs generally suck up a greater share of philanthropic dollars, and (to the chagrin of many) the traditional funding community tends to support the “no excuses” models (like KIPP, AF and Uncommon Schools) moreso than the mom and pops, so much so that at a recent funding forum, a major funder indicated that charters didnt need any more innovation because they already had KIPP. Again, thanks, while there are issues with what this data captures and what it doesnt, this is good starting information.
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April 30th, 2009 10:00 am
Hey Gideon,
I agree that money flowing into other entities that might not be reflected in the school audits (or 990s) is the biggest potential missing piece of the puzzle. Also, this piece might be quite significant. I am doing more work on this and will comment here or write another post as I learn more.
The goal of the exercise is to get a better idea as to the amounts of philanthropy being given to charter schools. This is an area of frequent speculation in charter school debates.
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April 30th, 2009 10:05 am
Hey Dirk,
Thanks for the comments. I hope to get some data on CMO philanthropy (and philanthropy that might be reflected in entities other than the school entities themselves).
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April 30th, 2009 10:17 am
Hey Elizabeth,
Great questions. Here are a few thoughts:
1. The audits give some information about the source of funds, but I think it is insufficient to form conclusions. In the workbook, I broke philanthropy out in the manner that the audits did, but different audits have different approaches. Frequently, they group all contributions together.
2. For many schools, I have two years of audit data. Total philanthropic dollars for these two years showed growth of about 7%.
3. Although I haven’t done a detailed analysis, it seems that the CMO-related schools raise more money per pupil (and this doesn’t include funds that might not be reflected in the audits). KIPP, for example, averages $2,123 per pupil and Achievement First averages $2,346.
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May 1st, 2009 9:45 am
The reason I asked about the purpose of this exercise is because there is a tendency for people to try to label charter schools as either a liberal or conservative, Democractic or Republican movement. So the question above about the source of donations often leads to the political leanings of that organization or individual, which then gets attached to the school or charter movement writ large. I believe the charter movement is an amazing convergance of, to put it too simply, liberal interest in innovation within public education and conservative interest in competition to improve public education. Yet people often look at the supporters and funders of charter schools and jump to the conclusion that it’s an attempt to privatize public education or a slippery slope to vouchers. I think the more interest issue with regards to the data you are unearthing is trying to understand how much it takes to effectively educate urban children, and whether the public funding for schools is adequate. It would also be very interesting to compare per pupil philanthropic support with the poverty level of individual charter schools. Finally, I’m curious if you analysis will be able to capture the significant back-end support of organizations like UFT for its schools or Carl Icahn’s company for his schools.
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May 1st, 2009 11:36 am
Hi, I’d really apperciate some feedback regarding this post. We run a online virtual private school. We crrently have 1000 students enrolled and are struggling to stay afloat. Our school will be providing charter schools and after school programs with an online cirruculm. We would like to start our own private school. How do we go about doing this? How do we get funding or sponsoring.
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May 5th, 2009 10:12 pm
Dirk,
I’m really interested in what you said about the funding forum - “a major funder indicated that charters didnt need any more innovation because they already had KIPP.” Seems like you really disagree with that notion. But KIPP teachers and principals have told me that they are innovating even inside the KIPP umbrella. I recently visited a KIPP school where the principal said he is free to form his own culture, especially with the cooperation of the regional network.
Do you have a different impression? Could you give some examples of mom-and-pop charter schools that should be getting more support?
Elizabeth
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May 5th, 2009 10:15 pm
Ken,
Thanks for the new details. I just want to point out for those following along that according to your data, KIPP and Achievement First get on average about $500-700 more per pupil in philanthropic dollars than the average NYC charter school. The average school figure is $1,654 per pupil, whereas KIPP averages $2,123 per pupil and Achievement First averages $2,346.
I have this right, don’t I? Isn’t this a pretty big deal?
Elizabeth
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May 6th, 2009 9:25 am
Hey Elizabeth,
I do think you have this right. To me, the difference seems significant but not huge. (I am not making a statistical statement at all!)
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May 6th, 2009 9:31 am
Hey Gideon,
Thanks for your comments. I tend to agree with you. To be clear, I purposefully attempted to write this post in a style that was free of my opinions or analysis of the matter. I hope to have some posts that people can use for factual reference. In these cases, I think it might be good to leave out my interpretation. Maybe it is just boring!?
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May 6th, 2009 9:35 am
Hello,
I’m new to this forum and to the NYC education system. I would like some feedback on how to start a Charter school in NY. What is needed? I am re-posting my recent post since no one respond. Can anyone here make some suggestions?
Hi, I’d really appreciate some feedback regarding this post. We run a online virtual private school. We currently have 1000 students enrolled and are struggling to stay afloat. Our school will be providing charter schools and after school programs with an online curriculum. We would like to start our own private school. How do we go about doing this? How do we get funding or sponsoring.
Thanks
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May 6th, 2009 9:48 am
Hey William,
Two places you can find information are:
1. The New York City Charter School Center website: http://www.nycchartercenter.org/. They have lots of useful information including guidebooks.
2. The New York Charter School Association website: http://www.nycsa.org/StartACharterSchool.html.
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May 6th, 2009 12:38 pm
William,
Welcome to GothamSchools! I am very curious about the virtual private school you run. What’s the name of the school? Where do the students live? Do you have students in New York City? How much is tuition? Who are the teachers? What grades? etc. etc…
Elizabeth
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May 6th, 2009 3:18 pm
What’s the name of the school? The name of the school is Crescent Preparatory School “CPS”
Where do the students live? The Student reside across the United States.
Do you have students in New York City? Yes we do have a considerable amount of Students in NY.
How much is tuition? 6th-8th grade $1195 - 9th $1195.00 - 10th $1295.00 - 11th 1395.00 - 12th $1495.00
Who are the teachers? Certified teachers working, licensed and certified in their respective states in public or private schools.
What grades? etc. etc… 6th-8th 9th-12th
In addition we provide - AP & Honors Courses. We also have over 150 elective and career path academies.
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May 8th, 2009 11:32 am
Hi Elizabeth,
I posted a response to your request and had not seen a response.
I wondered why you asked me all those questions. Did you get a chance to review the web site?
In addition I posted an event. How long does it take to appear on the web site?
I look forward to your reply.
Bill
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May 8th, 2009 1:46 pm
Thanks for the answers, Bill. I just wanted some context. Please keep us posted as you consider applying for a charter. And sorry for the delay on the calendar item; I just published it.
One more question for you: Can you tell us about your credit-recovery program?
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May 8th, 2009 2:20 pm
All these far right supporters are trying to do is to INCREASE SEGREGATION.
So they want to bribe minorities to stay in dirty, unhealthy, noisy, dangerous inner cities and stay out of their prestine, healthy, green, suburbs where there is no epidemic of asthma because the air isn’t polluted.
Beware of Republicans suddenly pretending they give a damn about minorities.
Anyone who falls for this is a moron or a racist.
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May 8th, 2009 2:22 pm
We basically handle it the same way traditional schools do. However, we usually customize the course schedule to make sure the child is successful and get’s back on track quickly.
Credit Recovery is traditionally defined as a way to “recover” credit for a course that a student was previously unsuccessful in earning academic credit towards graduation. It differs greatly from programs that allow students to earn “first time credit” in that students having already satisfied seat time requirements for a course in which they were unsuccessful can focus on earning credit based on competency of the content standards for the particular course. Credit Recovery programs, in general, have a primary focus of helping students stay in school and graduate on time
We contact the school and present them with a letter of enrollment verification. This letter does two things. It authorizes us to request the transcripts and automatically withdraws the student.
It also alerts the school and the district so the parent does not face truancy issues.Do you know of any middle-schools or high schools that can benefit or use our online curriculum?
Bill
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May 8th, 2009 2:23 pm
Want to know what Repbulicans want for education?
Just go look at Mississipi’s web site. There are far more undereducated blacks in Mississippi than any urban area. In Mississippi there is NO “school choice” - they have other methods to keep segregation alive.
A teacher only needs an associate’s degree in ….something. And the salary is $26,000 a year, not enough to live on.
YOu want your state to look like Mississippi the red state that is the poorest in America and where the largest employer is GOVERNMENT? Vote Republican!
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May 8th, 2009 2:26 pm
Hi Elizabeth,
How would one promote an event?
Respectfully,
-bv
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May 8th, 2009 2:32 pm
Gideon says: ” I believe the charter movement is an amazing convergance of, to put it too simply, liberal interest in innovation within public education and conservative interest in competition to improve public education. “,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
I can see the conservative interest in improving public education when I go to the websites of red states especially in the south. Many schools in the south are still de facto segregated, so they don’t need to bribe blacks to stay in filthy noisy asthma-inducing old inner cities. The bottom ten states for poverty are red states. Many of them have no school choice at all. They also have the highest drop out rates in the country. What conservatives want is private “Christian” schools for whites teaching creationism paid for by my tax dollars. Why would anyone listen to a party that produces the worst education and are the poorest states? Republicans are really good at one thing: propaganda for their ideology.
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May 8th, 2009 2:36 pm
Note that while conservatives whine about our teachers who work in dangerous, dirty, polluted inner cities get TOO MUCH money, KIPP employees make far more. What a joke. The same people hate firefighters and cops. They ought to hire their beloved Blackwater and pay the $600/day for “security”. And get a hose and do the rightwing individualism and put out their own fires themselves.
They must hate DonorsChoice where you can help public teachers who don’t even have enough money to buy supplies, while rich towns have plentyh of money to donate millions to their own fancy schools.
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May 15th, 2009 12:15 am
Ken, this is great. To arrive at per-pupil spending, would we simply divide “total expenses” by the number of students in the school?
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May 15th, 2009 10:55 am
Corey,
Glad you like it!With regards to expenses, I think that you are correct. In fact, I will post those results early next week with some comments.
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January 25th, 2010 7:14 pm
[...] to this article, charter schools in New York receive nearly $1,500 per student per year in [...]
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