Charter schools to create $3 million 'fail' fund
SALT LAKE CITY (KUTV) — When the news broke in December 2019 that the American International School of Utah was under investigation for misappropriating nearly half a million dollars in state and federal education funds, it left a black eye on charter schools that hasn’t entirely healed.
Recently, advocates for charter schools came up with a kind of fix: a “Charter School Closure Reserve Account,” like an emergency rainy-day fund that would ensure that if a charter school closes with outstanding debts, they could be resolved right away.
How much reserve would be enough? They decided on a figure: $3 million.
And so during the 2021 General Session, Rep. V. Lowry Snow (R-St. George) introduced a bill to create the Charter School Closure Reserve Account, with the state kicking in $1 million in one-time funding. Then, charter schools would contribute $2 per enrolled student, annually, until the total $3 million is reached.
The bill passed, and had it been in place a year earlier — when there were approximately 79,067 charter school students statewide — the total contribution to the fund would have been $158,134. This year, according to the bill’s fiscal note, “Consensus enrollment estimates indicate approximately 81,000 students will enroll in charter schools in FY 2022, resulting in $162,000 deposited into the account.” In other words, it will take several years to hit the $3 million goal.
As could be expected, not all charter schools are thrilled with the prospect of kicking in dollars to bail out a failing school. Critics of the bill also point out that, given Utah’s historically low per-pupil spending, taking $2 away from every student in a classroom is hard to justify.
Snow tells the Beyond the Books team that, while he has heard the critiques, ultimately the charter school movement benefits from the added security of a reserve fund.
As I said to some of the charter schools, you need to understand that to some extent all the charters are a little bit in this together,” Snow said.
