Page 79 - Volume 4 - Issue 1 - DBU Journal of K-12 Educational Research

Journal of K-12 Educational Research 77 Introduction In 1995, Texas legislators created open enrollment charter schools with several purposes in mind. According to the Texas Education Code (2014), charter schools seek to: improve student learning, encourage different and innovative learning methods, increase the choice of learning opportunities, establish a new form of accountability for public schools, and create professional learning opportunities that will attract new teachers to the public school system. (Subchapter A, §12.001 [a][1-5]) While open enrollment charter schools share many similar traits and characteristics with traditional public schools, a key difference exists in the manner in which both types of public schools are funded. Open enrollment charter schools do not have any legal authority to levy taxes and must rely on a statewide average of operation revenue provided to traditional public schools and federal monies to fund their total school program. Open enrollment charter schools have increased significantly in number and currently educate almost 4% of Texas schoolchildren. Today, 718 charter schools teach over 260,000 children daily (National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, 2016). Statement of the Problem The current study reviewed how Texas’s disparate school facility funding system impacts student academic achievement on the State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness (STAAR) results in Grade 8 Mathematics and Reading in Education Service Center (ESC) Region X and Region XI traditional public schools and open enrollment charter schools among All students, White students, Black students, Hispanic students, and Economically Disadvantaged students. Research Questions Student assessment data for Grade 8 STAAR Mathematics and Reading was extracted from the Texas Education Agency Texas Academic Progress Report to illustrate All student, White, Black, and Hispanic students, and Economically Disadvantaged student performance on both tests at identified Region XI open enrollment charter schools and geographically paired traditional public schools. The following questions were addressed: Research Question 1 (RQ1) To what extent does the amount of school funding provided to open enrollment charter schools and traditional public schools predict student achievement scores on the Grade 8 STAAR Mathematics assessment? Research Question 2 (RQ2) To what extent does the amount of school funding provided to open enrollment charter schools and traditional public schools predict student achievement scores on the Grade 8 STAAR Reading assessment? Literature Review Since 1991, 42 states and the District of Columbia have approved charter school legislation and the educational market place has expanded. Texas charter school legislation Journal of K-12 Educational Research 2020, VOL. 4, ISSUE 1 www.dbu.edu/doctoral/edd A COMPARISON OF ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE AND FINANCIAL DISPARITY AT TEXAS CHARTER SCHOOLS AND TRADITIONAL PUBLIC SCHOOLS Weldon Huffman (Buddy) Bonner, EdD