Last month, the U.S. Census Bureau released its annual public
K-12 school finance report (and accompanying datasets). The
data, which are for FY 2009 (there’s always a lag in finance
data), show that spending increased roughly two percent from the
previous year. This represents much slower growth than usual.
These data are a valuable resource that has rightfully gotten a
lot of attention. But there’s a serious problem within them,
which, while slightly technical, hasn’t received any attention
at all: The vast majority of public charter schools are not
included in the data. To gather its data, the Census Bureau
relies on reporting from “government entities.” Some charter
schools fit this description neatly, such as those operated by
governments or government-affiliated bodies, including states,
districts, counties, and public universities. But most charter
schools are operated by private organizations (mostly non-
profits), and finance figures for these schools are not included
in the report (the Census classif