Now, the state subsidizes the entire local portion. Yet it still can't determine whether that funding should be calculated to include all local money, including debt service for buildings.

As it stands now, the state would have to spend an extra $740,000 to give each charter student full local property tax funding, the report states.

That money, like other state money subsidizing the local property tax for charter schools, would mean a financial hit for every other regular public school.

That's because the state subsidy comes from the Uniform School Fund, which all of public education shares. So, all school districts subsidize charter schools, whether or not they have one in their boundaries.

Also, charter schools are not pulling enough students — typically, no more than five students per grade in a school — to make a difference in regular public schools' costs. So, those schools have fewer state per-student dollars — between $2,874 and $3,109 per student — but no difference in overhead.

So what to do?

Other than that, policymakers will have to decide if charter schools are worth the costs, the report states.

Sen. Howard Stephenson, R-Draper, believes the answer is yes, and that the foundation's analysis "misses the whole point." The public schools aren't losing money — just financial control, he says.

"We're funding students — not systems."

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E-mail: jtcook@desnews.com