Many Happy Returns

Opportunity

This week, the University of Arkansas published an exciting new study called, “A Good Investment: The updated productivity of public charter schools in eight U.S. cities.”

This new research suggests that public education is in fact, a great investment. Even better, the news for these eight cities with large numbers of charter schools is stellar. The University of Arkansas report claims that for every dollar invested in a charter school student, the public can expect to see an average return of $6.37 in lifetime earnings. Traditional public schools in these eight cities studied have great returns too, averaging returns of $4.41.

Three main takeaways of this study include:

I think this report is best understood in three parts:

  1. measuring the cost or level of investment in charter and traditional schools,
  2. measuring the relative performance on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, and
  3. calculating projections for lifetime earnings.

Cost

The report demonstrates that the amount of money invested in charter schools is substantially less than the amount of money invested in traditional public schools.

City Traditional Public School Revenue Per Student Chartered Public School Revenue Per Student

Difference

Charter–TPS = Difference

Atlanta $18,276 $9,382 ($8,894)
Indianapolis $15,380 $9,769 ($5,611)
San Antonio $14,147 $10,934 ($3,213)
Denver $15,230 $12,248 ($2,982)
Washington, D.C. $35,494 $25,236 ($10,258)
New York City $28,141 $22,701 ($5,440)
Boston $23,288 $20,423 ($2,865)
Houston $11,557 $11,040 ($517)

Performance

The report relies on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, otherwise known as NAEP. It takes scores from 2017 in the subjects of 8th Grade Reading and 8th Grade Math.

City Reading Math

Difference

Charter–TPS = Difference

  TPS Charter TPS Charter Reading Math 
Atlanta 261.26 262.34 274.67 275.30 1.08 0.63
Indianapolis 262.54 265.23 278.43 280.7 2.69 2.27
San Antonio 260.03 261.15 280.19 279.14 1.12 (1.05)
Denver 250.21 251.47 267.49 270.18 1.26 2.69
Washington, D.C. 246.86 250.25 265.85 270.54 3.39 4.69
New York City 254.01 255.16 275.04 280.11 1.15 5.07
Boston 257.24 265.50 279.61 290.95 8.26 11.34
Houston 257.09 257.72 280.64 281.45 0.63 0.81

Lifetime Earnings

This part of the study is fascinating because the researchers assume that if students learn less, they will earn less. Stated differently, if students learn more, then they will earn more. That seems logical. If their assumptions are correct, then the researchers can justifiably compare projected future earnings based on academic performance.

The researchers then calculate return on investment by comparing projected lifetime earnings to the amount of revenue provided for a student’s education.

In all of the eight cities studied, the return on investment for charter schools is higher than for traditional public schools. At the same time, this study finds that the return on investment for all public education is somewhere between 400 and 700 percent. That’s good for our students, good for our cities and good for the country! This April as we close out tax season, I think we can emphatically say: Many Happy Returns!

Solution Areas:

Private Education Choice

Topics:

Charter Schools

About the Author

Sam Duell is the Policy Director for Charter Schools at ExcelinEd.

Solution Areas:

Private Education Choice, Public Education Choice