Milton McDonald: Siphoning from public schools

The March 1 letter “Charter school realities” argued that charter schools do not drain money from the public system since charters are funded per student from the same pot that funds public schools per student.

But this misses the point that the larger system loses the economy of scale when public schools operate with empty desks and less crowded hallways. The overhead costs are the same, but fewer students mean higher cost per student.

It is inefficient for taxpayers to support two schools rather than one.

This story was originally published March 10, 2016 at 5:15 PM with the headline "Milton McDonald: Siphoning from public schools."