On the statewide MCAS tests administered in Massachusetts last spring, for example, most charter schools performed no better than traditional schools. But there were some exceptions in which charter students beat the average, including the Parker School , the Cape Cod Lighthouse Charter School in Orleans, the Benjamin Franklin Classical Charter School in Franklin and the Neighborhood House Charter School in Dorchester. No evidence exists, however, that charter schools systematically achieve success, but it may be too early to measure that. The largest nationwide for-profit company is the Edison Project based in New York, which runs 11 schools in total, including the Boston Renaissance Charter School and the Seven Hills Charter School in Worcester. Meanwhile, Sen. Pacheco has proposed a measure that would prohibit for-profit companies from controlling charter schools.
Charter schools receive their funds directly from the state based on a per-pupil basis.
The amount the charter school is paid per pupil depends upon which school district the student came from. State and local funds follow the student from a regular school district to a charter school. But the state continues to reimburse regular school districts for the pupils they have lost, in an effort to soften the financial blow. During the first year a student chooses to go to a charter, the pupil's former school gets 100 percent of the state's payment for the student. During the second year, the original school gets 60 percent of the payment and it receives 40 percent during the third year.