PHOENIX – In many states, new charter schools can’t open without the blessing of local school boards in the districts where they would be located.

And many school boards reject proposed charters, because they siphon away students and the state money attached to each one.

In Arizona, someone came up with the idea of giving more money per student to districts that convert some of their buildings to charter schools. Instead of losing money, the districts get an extra $1,200 per student who attends a converted charter schools.

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At the time lawmakers said they were trying to encourage the establishment of new charters, create more choice for parents and more competition between schools.

The plan obviously worked, at least to some degree. Last year 18 districts converted nearly 60 schools to charters and cashed in on the extra money. Many say their new charter schools offer special programs that benefit many students, and couldn’t be replicated without the extra funding.

But the financing model is now under attack.

The state Senate approved a version of a new state budget this year that would have established a retroactive deadline – June of 2013 – and cut off extra funding for district charter schools that were adopted after then.

This happened because some conservatives in the legislature say school districts have been taking advantage of the law to get more state money, and the high rate of charter conversions will end up costing more money that they state can afford.

But the state House this week approved a compromise budget that leaves the extra funding for charter schools in place for one more full academic year, at a cost of about $33 million, according to a report from AZCentral.com. The compromise budget is expected to be accepted buy

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The issue will presumably be revisited by lawmakers next year.

Perhaps the answer to this unfolding dilemma can be found in a logical compromise.

The original plan obviously served its purpose – to convince local school districts to create more charter schools and more school choice.

But there’s no reason to doubt that the extra financial investment is a hardship on the state budget. Something may have to give.

How about this? The state could closely inspect each of the new charter schools to determine if the programming is original or valuable enough to preserve. If so, those schools could be allowed to continue to exist. If students are benefitting, how can the state in good conscience close down the schools?

But the extra funding may have to go away, which would put the traditional schools and charter schools in direct competition for students and limited state dollars

We presume that good traditional schools would be fine, because most students would have no incentive to leave. Not-so-good schools would have to improve, or risk losing funding to the charter schools they created.

Some schools would thrive, while others would either shrink or cease to exist. That would be up to families, who would vote with their feet.

It was easy for Arizona districts to establish charter schools when there was no threat to their budgets. The state made it easy and painless for them to get into the school choice game.

But now it’s apparently time to switch to a game of pure choice, which will produce financial winners and losers.

That would hardly be a bad thing. Academics would improve statewide as schools scrambled to improve their programs to attract more students. Some schools would lose out, but the kids would be the overall winners.

And that’s the whole idea, isn’t it?