The report says charter school students are improving faster than their former classmates in traditional public schools. Stepping Stone Academy on East Ferry in Buffalo is now in its third year with just over 500 students enrolled. Principal William Butler was pleased with the findings. He says charter schools have a large impact on the way children learn.

Butler is able to make a fair comparison after spending 17 years in the traditional public school system. He says there's too much bureaucracy in the regular public schools that slows down the response time in dealing with students needs.

"In many instances, they've had real needs and deficiencies that need to be addressed in real time," Butler said. "And when you have large bureaucratic structures, sometimes that assistance takes weeks, months, even years before it can actually be put into place to address some of those needs the youngsters have."

The education department report also says local school districts are not suffering financially because of charter schools. This contradicts charter school critics who say the privately-run, publicly-financed schools are draining public dollars. Butler is not surprised by that finding. He says charter schools operate with less resources.

"The per pupil expenditure for students, at least in the case here in Buffalo where it goes through the Buffalo Public School system, they take a percentage of the funds and funnel down the rest to the local charters," Butler explained. "So Buffalo Public is doing less with more where the charter schools are doing more with less."

State Regents Chancellor Robert Bennett says he, too, is not surprised by a new report on charter schools. Bennett says the Board of Regents will explore measures that could help nurture the success cited in the draft report.

But critics of charter schools are skeptical of the report. Barbara Bradley of the state School Boards Association says the report doesn't square with what districts are saying about the fiscal impact of charter schools. © Copyright 2009, WBFO