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Original document was submitted as an honors thesis requirement. Copyright is held by the author.

Document Type

Thesis

Abstract

Since the state of Minnesota first began charter schools nearly three decades ago, they have slowly become a major part of public education throughout the United States. Often times strategically placed in communities of low socioeconomic status, charter schools have offered alternative options to at-risk, low-income students who would otherwise attend the traditional public school within their school zones. In New York City today, there are almost four times the number of charter schools than there were ten years ago. Across the city, at-risk students who have the opportunity to attend charter schools are reaching higher levels of educational achievement and succeeding in more varied fields than their public-school-attending counterparts. It is not possible to say that any single factor contributes to the success of charter schools; however, in my investigation I hypothesize that one major contributing factor to New York charter school success is funding. As such, I compared the annual state revenue brought in by charter schools versus that of traditional public schools. In analyzing both total funding for two specific charter networks and six individual public schools, as well as funding per-pupil, I found that funding discrepancies have most likely made a difference in the differing education systems.


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