Private philanthropy can’t seem to close the funding gap between district schools and charter schools. Although charter schools as a whole raise more per-pupil from private donations than district schools, the amount may just be, as a new study from the University of Arkansas puts it, “Buckets of Water into the Ocean.”

Private donations to large charter organizations have "generated a widespread perception that charter schools receive large amounts of revenue from philanthropic giving,” the researchers write. But how does that perception square with reality?

Last year the same authors examined the broader funding gap, finding that district schools received substantially less money per student in 2011. See more on that report, and some criticisms of it, here.

The new study looks at data from 15 states, and finds private donations help charters make up some of the shortfall, bringing in an average of $246 more per student than traditional public schools received from philanthropy.

Per Pupil Revenue funding gap between charter and district schools - University of Arkansas

Still, the report shows, while they are more important to charters than traditional schools, philanthropic donations still make up a fairly small portion (about 2.5 percent) of overall school funding.

“The discussion of charter school philanthropy is not exactly much ado about nothing,” write the researchers, “but it is much ado about surprisingly little.” (more…)