The state's charter schools want the Court of Appeals to force lawmakers to give them more funding, a lot more. Arizona Public Radio's Howard Fischer reports.
Charter schools are public schools under state law. They can, however, be operated by private, for-profit organizations and are exempt from many regulations that govern traditional schools. But attorney Kory Langhofer believes charter schools should receive as much in state aid as traditional public schools, as well as be able to ask voters to approve bond issues and overrides to raise local tax dollars.
"If you live in District 1 and you send your children to a charter school," Langhofer said, "when District 1 passes a school bond, they money you pay in taxes for that school bond don't benefit your child at all. They only go to the district schools."
Langhofer said some of that should go to charter schools. But, his argument that it violates the equal rights of parents and their children is getting a fight not only from the state Department of Education, but also Don Peters, attorney for the Arizona School Boards Association.
Peters said, "The right to education is absolutely equal for every kid in the state. They can all choose a charter school, they can all go to a district school. And, they're saying we made one of those choices and we're not happy with how that institution is financed."
Langhofer, who lost the first round in trial court, is hoping for better luck on appeal. The implications if he wins are huge: He pegs the difference in funding at $135 million a year.