i see a lot of criticism of charter schools being “run like businesses” and profiting off of tax money in the context that traditional public schools dont do that. but i dont understand because both of them are public funded and dont cost the student anything right? so how are they run like businesses and how are they profiting off tax payer money anymore than public schools are? not looking for opinions just an explanation on how theyre different
In: Economics
There are 50+ different charter school laws in the US, it’s a state thing. (Yeah for Federalism!)
Businesses seek students that can be educated most productively, so there is some profit for the company. They borrow capital and have expenses for that, but they can be creative with their real estate options.
Public schools take whatever students they get and educate them in ways that maximize the power of teacher’s unions. Public school capital is typically public debt taken on by voters, so there is little flexibility to rework things..
In reality both of those ideas are too extreme, reality is in the spectrum between those edges.
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