CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Charter schools would receive about $35 million more from the state -- a 4.5 percent increase -- under Gov. John Kasich's proposed school funding formula than they have over the last two years, according to an analysis by the Legislative Service Commission.

That's a conservative estimate because it does not include other money Kasich has set aside for charter schools, such as the $100 per student they will receive in his budget and it does not included any new charter school that have opened since the 2011-2012 school year.

The analysis applied Kasich's aid formula to 2012 charter school enrollments, the most recent available, though charter school enrollment grows in Ohio each year.

The analysis is the first to put numbers to charter school funding since Kasich unveiled his school funding proposal Jan. 31. That proposal increases overall state education spending by six percent.

Biggest Gainers Community school County 2013-14 change Global Village Academy Cuyahoga $383,381 29.20% Summit Academy Second Lorain Lorain $1,180,106 24.30% Summit Academy CS–Lorain Lorain $3,022,859 22.80% Summit Academy Second Akron Summit $1,278,193 22.60% Summit Academy MS Lorain Lorain $1,664,381 22.40% Summit Academy CS Painesville Lake $1,740,798 22.10% Constellation: Outreach Cuyahoga $1,314,540 22.10% Summit Academy Akron Elementary Summit $1,981,140 20.90% Summit Academy Community School Cuyahoga $4,075,615 20.40% Summit Academy Akron MS Summit $1,820,265 20.20% Virtual Schoolhouse Inc. Cuyahoga $4,339,824 16.70% Mansfield Preparatory Academy Lorain $1,011,349 15.20% Constellation Schools: Stockyards Cuyahoga $543,567 13.50% Imagine Akron Academy Summit $1,179,426 13.00% Constellation Schools: Lorain Lorain $869,812 12.40% Akron Digital Academy Summit $4,225,058 11.80% TowpathTrail High School Summit $1,444,205 11.00% Horizon ScienceAcademyLorain Lorain $2,598,061 11.00% Life Skills Center of North Akron Summit $822,640 10.90% Phoenix Village Academy P2 Cuyahoga $332,679 10.80% Constellation Schools: Eastside Cuyahoga $373,169 10.70% Life Skills Center of Summit County Summit $1,008,810 10.10% Lake Erie International High School Cuyahoga $1,500,497 10.10% Biggest losers Falcon Academy of Creative Art Portage $866,178 –6.6% The Edge Academy Summit $1,669,276 –6.6% Menlo Park Academy Cuyahoga $1,584,931 –5.4% Westpark Community Elementary Cuyahoga $2,212,651 –3.9% Old Brooklyn Community Elementary Cuyahoga $2,116,947 –3.7% Romig Road Community School Summit $3,531,421 –3.6% Constellation Elyria Community Lorain $2,509,308 –3.1% Village Preparatory School Cuyahoga $1,995,692 –3.0% University of Cleveland Prep Cuyahoga $2,066,427 –2.1% Phoenix Village Academy S1 Cuyahoga $874,251 –2.1% Lorain High School Digital Lorain $447,746 –2.1% The Intergenerational School Cuyahoga $1,576,355 –1.3% Dow Leadership Institute Cuyahoga $432,896 –1.1% Lakewood City Academy Cuyahoga $910,338 –0.9% Steve Sanders Academy Cuyahoga $617,809 –0.6% Puritas Community Elementary Cuyahoga $1,474,466 –0.6% Ohio Connections Academy Cuyahoga $18,137,969 –0.6%

Graphic by Ken Marshall, The Plain Dealer

SOURCES: Legislative Service Commission;

Plain Dealer researc

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Charter officials scrambling to absorb the details of the data late Tuesday said the majority of increases seem to be in extra money devoted to special education students.

The commission is a non-partisan service that prepares analysis of state laws for legislators and their staff. Officials there declined to comment on the study, which is their standard practice.

Though the governor's office released estimates of funding changes for traditional districts shortly after he released his proposed budget, school officials have been calling for charter estimates since.

Kasich's plan reduces the current $5,700 per student base aid to charters to $5,000, but gives more add-ons based on a student's home district and its income and property values. Per-student state aid also increases based on poverty and students' limited English proficiency or disabilities.

Stephanie Klupinski from the Ohio Alliance of Public Charter Schools called the results mixed because special education money, even increased, has restrictions. Some schools would receive more money under Kasich's plan, she said, but their unrestricted money would go down.

Though 84 out of the 101 charter schools included in the analysis see overall increases, 17 see decreases. Those schools do not receive the guarantee Kasich offered traditional school districts of not receiving less money than they are now.

"Some of the schools are looking at this and feeling pretty happy and others are looking at this and feeling pretty devastated," she said.

Lyman Millard, spokesman for the Breakthrough charter school network in Cleveland, called the analysis, and the questions it raises, interesting. The six Breakthrough schools that were open in 2011-12 would receive 2.4 percent more – under the state average. Its Intergenerational and Village Prep schools would see small decreases.

"It looks like some of our schools would do better and some of our schools would get less money, but we're still looking at what's driving the changes," Millard said.

Richard Lukich, president of the Constellation charter school network in Northeast Ohio, could not be reached for comment. The 10 Constellation schools in the report would receive $509,000 more under Kasich's plan, a 4.6 percent increase.

Kasich's office has declined to provide its own estimates of what charter schools would receive, saying those were never calculated in the past and would be unreliable because of incomplete data.

Even after the commission report started circulating Tuesday, Kasich spokesman Rob Nichols warned against relying on the data.

"Sight unseen, we know that in many cases, the data are unreliable, they are based on incomplete information, and charter schools should be very cautious about using them to put together their budgets," he said in an email.

Kasich education consultant Richard Ross, who was named the new state superintendent Tuesday, said he had not seen the analysis.

"I'm anxious to look at it," he said.

Additional Plain Dealer analysis shows:

• Cuyahoga County charters would see increases of 3.7 percent, under the state average.

• Large online charter schools will see significant increases. The statewide Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow would have the largest dollar increase -- $4.8 million -- while another statewide online school, Ohio Virtual Academy, is second with a $1.35 million increase.

• The 26 Summit Academy schools would see combined state aid increases of more than 20 percent. Those schools, spread across the state, "are specifically designed to address the social, emotional and academic needs of students with AD/HD, Autism Spectrum Disorders and related disorders," according to the network's website.

Klupinski said Summit fits the pattern of increases for special education students.

The LSC analysis gained attention Tuesday after it was posted on the education website, 10thperiod.blogspot.com/, of former state representative Stephen Dyer.

Data analysis editor Rich Exner contributed to this article.