Written by Daniel Hartman
I believe that charter schools should not be able to use public funds in the way which they currently do. This essay will teach you how public schools collect revenue, what a charter school is, how charter schools collect revenue, and why the current system harms our school and schools like ours.
To fully address this situation, we must first understand how public schools acquire funding. Most schools in Pennsylvania get their funding through local property taxes (USAfacts). However, in rural areas this is not as feasible, so many schools in rural PA are primarily funded through the state rather than through local taxes. Our school earns around 25.5 million dollars a year and 18.2 million or 71.4% is from state sources (MUASD). This is due to the low property values and low population in rural areas. The Pennsylvania county which is affected by this most is Forest County.
What are charter schools and how do they collect revenue? Charter schools are publicly funded institutions, some are private, which have looser regulations on curriculum and standards. Instead of federal standards they are based upon state and local regulations, which can be much looser. Charter schools do not operate through a school board system which allows them to adapt much faster. These charter schools are growing in popularity despite these looser curriculums (Fischler). These schools get funded the same way as public schools. When a student who previously attended public school enrolls in a charter school all of the funding that was designated for said student goes to the charter school.
How does this affect our school and similar rural schools? Rural schools have almost always struggled to collect revenue, that is why the state funds them so much. Now that rural schools need to compete with charter schools, they struggle further to collect funding as more students go to charter schools. Rural schools often operate as the heart of the community, that is how rural communities have always been, the two biggest community centers in rural areas are the churches and the schools. If public schools cannot support their ability to fund sports and community events, these already close to death rural towns will become even more desolate. Many small schools also require a tight and efficient budget this means that even losing 20-30 students to a charter school could massively affect school finances (Greene). For our school, Mount Union Area School District, we have lost students to New Day Charter School which has lost us some funding. We are a school already in debt, currently we are in 3,630,000 dollars of debt and that debt is predicted to increase to 4,182,000 dollars by next school year (MUASD). If we can’t control the bleeding our school will eventually require intervention by the state.
This is why charter schools need to be funded through mixed revenue instead of just public revenue. Firstly, this essay has shown how public schools collect revenue. Secondly, it has shown how charter schools work and are funded. Finally, it has shown why this matters for our school and schools like ours. Have you ever considered going to a charter school? Maybe you should reconsider.
Citations
(Greene) Greene, Peter. “Four Reasons Charter Schools Don’t Fit Rural Communities (and One Reason They Do).” Forbes, 18 Dec. 2018, www.forbes.com/sites/petergreene/2018/12/17/four-reasons-charter-schools-dont-fit-rural-communities-and-one-reason-they-do/. Accessed 12 Sept. 2025.
(MUASD) Sieber, Cody. “Final General Fund Budget.” Muasd.org, 2025, www.muasd.org/2025/07/01/final-general-fund-budget/. Accessed 12 Sept. 2025.
(USAFacts) “How Are Public Schools in Pennsylvania Funded? | USAFacts.” USAFacts, 2021, usafacts.org/answers/how-are-public-schools-in-the-us-funded/state/pennsylvania/. Accessed 12 Sept. 2025.