INC NEWS - charter schools vs. public schools

[RW Pickle]

Is there anyone on this list that tell us the difference between these?
Such as State educational requirements, per pupil funding provided by the
State (to charter school children), and how it is possible for charter
schools to build buildings without charging more for children (or that
they do; like private schools do). Maybe even the difference between
charter, private, and public. I guess kids who attend private schools also
get the State funding sent to that school.

I have no kids, so I missed out on all this new-fangled educational
process. It seems (to me) that these charter schools are just a drain on
funding for our public schools and if things need to change there, we as
taxpayers will be called on to meet that burden. Charter schools will just
close as some have. I can understand that there may be some overcrowding
from time-to-time in our current schools, but growth (of children in
numbers) is a hard thing to plan. And unless someone is keeping an eye on
it (like Melissa says, where will her kids go in 5th grade if preschool is
already this crowded), it could get really out of hand in a hurry. I know
developers never estimate how many children will impact a school when they
do development. And I doubt anyone else can predict that as well. My
street over here once had 52 school-age children on it. Today that number
is 10. And of those 10, 2 attend a charter school, 1 attends a private
school, and the rest go to public schools. But that's a big difference
from the 52 who were once here and that must really mess up planning for
someone.

Because we live in a different world today than when I was growing up, it
seems our society has become so transient. Given several large company
moves from our region, the entire population base that we plan for could
move as well. I think about the declining cities in the north; they could
use more students. Here, our economy is good, so we get more residents
(and their kids). It must be a hard thing to plan since building schools
are not something that is done overnight. I guess that is why we've turned
to trailers as a temporary solution. The kid population could change one
way or the other from year-to-year depending on where the parents are in
their lives.

RWP
27 Beverly