Think of all the additional money Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf seeks to throw down the rathole of the unionized educratic establishment as he misrepresents the fiscal facts on the ground. Think, too, of this governor's proposal, no doubt a sop to organized labor, to force charter schools to return to the respective school districts dollars not specifically spent on student instruction.
Privately run but publicly funded charter schools, just like their public school counterparts, maintain reserves to cover unexpected expenses or emergencies. Charter school advocates point to the current budget impasse as one of those emergencies.
But the Wolf administration argues that charters don't have the same fixed facility costs. Never mind that the numbers suggest that, collectively, public school reserves still far outpace those of the charters — $1.6 billion to $148 million at the end of the 2013-14 school year.
Gubernatorial spokeswoman Jeffrey Sheridan says the governor wants charter schools held to the same accountability standards as government schools. Wolf seeks a “reconciliation process to ensure districts are refunded the money they paid out but was not spent on students,” he says.
By that standard, Pennsylvania taxpayers are owed $1.6 billion. When can they expect the check, Governor?
