Every tax is a pay cut.  Every tax cut is a pay raise.
Citizens for Limited Taxation

What if you took the student/teacher headcounts and finances of the Framingham Community Charter School and super-sized it to compare it to the regular government schools. The charter school had 102 students last year while the regular schools had 8,528 students. This gives us a factor size of 8528/102 = 83.6. Now, take the charter school numbers and multiply them by 83.6 and compare the results to our normal schools. This gives us food for thought.

Tuition for Marian High School is about $7,000.

2003 School Comparisons
Description Framingham
Charter
School 		Framingham
Charter
School
(Factored) 		Framingham
Schools
(Actual) 		Keefe
Technical
School (Actual)
Number of students 102 8528 8528 576
Number of teachers 12 1003.2 726  
Number of assistant teachers (1) 3.50 362.6 127  
Number of specialists (2) 4.60      
Admin staff (3) 6.70      
Other Staff 1      
Total staff 28 2340 1193  
Class size 8.5 8.5 12.20
Students per adult ratio 3.64 3.64 7.1  
Total School Cost (millions) $1.215 $100.320 $73.800 $6.31
Cost per student $11,911 $11,911 $8,658 $10,939
 
Factor size = 8528 / 102 = 83.6
These notes are only applicable to the charter school.
  1. inclusion specialists (certified special education teachers, not paraprofessionals
  2. specialists, i.e. fitness, peace, languange, adventure, etc.
  3. 1 principal, 1 dean, 1 sped director, 1 ed, 1.25 admin asst., .5 bookkeeper, .9 nurse

A charter school (Framingham Community Charter School) was started in Framingham in the fall of 2001 fall.  Charter schools are independent public schools, free from the control of district school committees and are not bound by union contracts.  The state authorizes the formation of a charter school in any town if enough parents believe that the public schools are not serving the interest of their children.  This is in effect a tacit admission by parents that the Framingham public schools are in essence failing. 

The charter school is a public school and anyone may apply. Students are drawn at random from a pool.  The very specific details of the "random" selection seems to be unknown.

For the fiscal year 2002, the charter school will consist of about 103 sixth grade students in six classes, costing about $930,000 or about $9,000 per student.  Within three years, it will be a middle school incorporating grades 6 thru 8.  If it's MCAS scores are higher than the public schools, it will grow.  If it's MCAS scores are lower, one could only hope that it will cease to exist.

Send comments to: hjw2001@gmail.com