Court Sides With State Funding Plan, Not Baltimore's

A Maryland appellate court has ruled that Baltimore charter schools have a right to more money than the city school board provides them, a potential victory for charter schools statewide.

In a ruling dated Thursday, a three-judge panel of the Court of Special Appeals affirmed a formula for funding charter schools set last year by the state school board and disputed by the Baltimore school board.

The case originated in a feud between Baltimore charter schools and the city school board over how much money the charter schools deserved under the 2003 state charter school law. The law dictates that charter schools should receive a sum "commensurate with the amount disbursed to other public schools" in the jurisdiction.

The city school board last year offered the charter schools a package of cash and services worth about $8,000 a pupil, saying it was the same amount disbursed to public schools. The funding formula remains in place today.

The state school board in May 2005 said that the law does not permit the Baltimore board to provide services in place of cash and that the city's funding formula was too stingy. State officials said the charter schools should receive about $10,000 a student, a figure attained by dividing the operating budget of Baltimore schools by the number of students enrolled and subtracting a fraction for administrative overhead.

In the new ruling, the appellate panel agreed with the state school board that the law entitles schools to cash, not services. The matter now goes back to Baltimore Circuit Court for further action.

City school officials contend that the ruling potentially awards charter schools more money than goes to regular public schools.

"It's an unfunded mandate," said Warren Wheaton, an attorney for the Baltimore school board. "If it applies to this fiscal year, then we don't have money to pay for it."

Wheaton said a "virtually identical" case involving Lincoln Public Charter School in Prince George's County is pending before the same court.