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In early 2020, the global COVID-19 pandemic closed schools for the rest of the 2019-20 school year (fiscal year 2020 or FY20). The United States Congress deployed funds to help K-12 schools adjust and plan for reopening via the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, including the initial $13.2 billion installment through the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund (ESSER I) and initial $2.95 billion installment through the Governor's Emergency Education Relief (GEER I) Fund. Private sector and non-profit organizations, including charter schools, were also eligible for loans through the Small Business Administration's Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), most of which were partially or fully forgiven. In this report, we extend our analysis of school funding during FY20 from the 2023 report, "Charter School Funding: Little Progress Toward Equity in the City." In that report, we found that, on average, charter schools receive about 30 percent ($7,147) less funding per pupil compared to traditional public schools (TPS). That analysis excluded COVID relief funding. Here we compare the initial emergency COVID relief funds received by TPS and charter schools in 18 US Cities: Atlanta, Georgia; Boston, Massachusetts; Camden, New Jersey; Chicago, Illinois; Denver, Colorado; Detroit, Michigan; Houston, Texas; Indianapolis, Indiana; Little Rock, Arkansas; Memphis, Tennessee; New Orleans, Louisiana; New York City, New York; Oakland, California; Phoenix, Arizona; San Antonio, Texas; Tulsa, Oklahoma; and Washington, DC. We use data from federal and state sources to address the following research questions: (1) did emergency COVID relief funds allocated to publicly-funded schools in FY20 widen or narrow the preexisting charter school funding gap? and (2) was initial COVID relief funding (allocated for FY20) distributed equitably relative to student poverty?

Charter schools are public schools that operate free from some government regulations in return for a commitment to achieve a set of student outcomes specified in their charter. Nearly 8,000 public charter schools enrolled 3.7 million students in the U.S. in 2020-21. In major cities, charter schools receive less funding per pupil compared to traditional public schools (TPS). Charter schools also use their funding more efficiently, achieving better short- and long-term outcomes per dollar invested, relative to TPS. In this study, the authors reexamine the productivity of publicly funded schools, using funding data from the charter school revenue report "Charter School Funding: Little Progress Towards Equity in the City." The authors also use achievement data from the Center for Research on Educational Outcomes' (CREDO's) city and national studies, the NAEP Data Explorer, and wage data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The authors also have access to complete data for nine cities: Camden, New Jersey; Denver, Colorado; Houston, Texas; Indianapolis, Indiana; Memphis, Tennessee; New Orleans, Louisiana; New York City, New York; San Antonio, Texas; and Washington, DC. They found that charter schools demonstrate an approximately 40 percent higher level of cost-effectiveness than TPS on average across nine cities.