Bullis charter spends $1903/student more than LASD (over 20% more)

From the Los Altos School District 2011-12 budget, total expenditures are $41,154,965 (from the table at the top of p. 4), and the projected total enrollment is 4460 (from the last sentence on p. 4). Dividing the two yields $9228/student for the year.

From the Bullis-Purissima Elementary School Foundation web site, Bullis Charter School spends $11,131/student.

That's a difference of $1903/student or 20.6%.

Thus, I would appreciate it if BCS supports would stop claiming that the LASD and BCS spend "about the same amount" on each student, or that the $5000 "suggested donation" is simply to "make up the gap". These assertions are simply not true.

I also want to note that I am making no attempt to drill into the different categories or line items to compare and contrast how LASD and BCS spends that money differently. That is a separate post. The point of this post is simple: BCS spends over 20% more on each student each year compared with students in LASD's traditional public schools.

Comments

[Joe]

Hey, the New York Times is on your side!

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/21/opinion/shuttering-bad-charter-schools.html?_r=1

[Dave Cortright]

True, although from an academic scores perspective, Bullis is not failing. The problem is they are failing in other more subtle ways, such as failing to reach out to the kids who are struggling academically.