For charter schools, more money, but spread thinner

Following up on her post earlier this week about how much charter schools raised through philanthropy this year, Kim Gittleson has analyzed how city charter schools spent their money in 2008-09.

Gittleson is a research assistant employed by Ken Hirsh, a GothamSchools funder who also writes for the site’s Community section. She found that while total spending by charter schools rose last year, individual schools’ average spending fell. The 13 percent drop in charter school spending beyond what the city gives the schools could be one result of the 8 percent drop in philanthropic giving to charter schools, Gittleson suggests.

Be sure to dig deep in Gittleson’s Excel file to see how much schools said they spent on fundraising last year. For the schools that listed fundraising expenses, the amounts ranged from just over $1,000 to more than $200,000.