06.29.2009 5:50 pm
Charter school funding OK, judge says
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
A Missouri judge has rejected a challenge to the way charter schools are funded in the state.
Cole County Judge Richard Callahan ruled against the Kansas City School District today, according to the Associated Press, after the district filed suit over a 2005 law that provides for direct state funding of charter schools. State aid for public school districts is then reduced on a per-pupil basis.
Previously, the state paid public school districts, which then paid charter schools for their students attending there.
The Kansas City district argued that the new method is unconstitutional because it creates an unfunded mandate on local schools. The district said the law also violates a provision letting Kansas City schools set their own tax rate.
