To answer your question, though, I pick on charter schools because I do have concerns about them continuing to siphon money and the best students and parents away from public schools. I participated in this, mind you. I don't fault parents for making the best possible choice for their kids. You do what you have to do. Your child is not a political pawn. But the broader system is concerning.
I also find the notion that charters siphon the best students away to be a false argument. These are students that would have been in private school or enrolled in district transfers to another district. They aren't a loss to a poor performing district that never had them in the first place. Our local elementary school is bottom of the barrel, close to being taken over by the state, riddled with gang violence and falling apart. Yet they have increased enrollment from when the first charter opened, 18 years ago in our district.
In addition, many charters enroll students from out of their neighborhood zone, therefore bringing money INTO the district that wasn't there before. It is commonplace in California for student living in the boundary to get first priority in the lottery, but if there aren't enough students to fill the spots, then lottery spots go to students in the bordering/surrounding counties. At my charter in particular, students drive from as far as an hour away to have access.
Now if we want to talk about funneling money, you have to look at how charter schools that are independent (local control) vs. dependent (run by the district)and traditional schools are funded. Independent charters have direct, local control over the day to day budget. The Principal can say "I don't want to buy this brand of paper because ___ is cheaper this month" and order up a few cases. In a dependent school, the district makes mass purchasing for all the schools in the area and determines who gets what. This loss of control makes it nearly impossible for Principals to directly address financial issues at his/her school. If school A has plenty of paper from donation but needs pens, it is a maze of patchwork deals to get the pens swapped out.
One thing charter schools tend to do better at nationally, is organizing their parents into volunteer groups. I don't believe this is charter specific- but that it says that parents who seek out educational options for their children are generally more involved parents. Those parents become a volunteer labor force that the traditional public schools, overall, have yet to harness effectively. My charter ask parents for 30 hours (per family) of volunteer hours a year and teachers are asked regularly for work people can do at home, on the weekends or online. With 30,000+ volunteer hours, a lot of wall decorations get cut, field trips chaperoned, landscapes weeded, group projects get finished and money is fundraised.
