Charter school Fair Funding Town Hall set Feb. 24

The Avon Grove Charter School is hosting a “Fair Funding Town Hall” Feb. 24 at 7 pm. This event should be of interest to parents and taxpayers in the Avon Grove School District because they are footing the bill to send local students to a charter school that is performing worse than schools in the district.

With an enrollment of over 1,850 students, the Avon Grove Charter School is bigger than many school districts in the state. Over 770 of the charter school’s students – or 42 percent – reside in the Avon Grove School District, the most of any district in the region or state. This means local parents and taxpayers have a keen interest in how the charter school is doing for its students.

When it comes to reading and math, the Avon Grove Charter School is not keeping up. According to the PA Department of Education, only 65 percent of its students scored proficient or advanced in reading compared with 76 percent of students attending schools run by the Avon Grove School District.

The gap is even larger when it comes to math where less than half (48 percent) of the charter school’s students scored proficient or advanced in math versus 66 percent for the district. Parents with school-age kids should obviously be concerned if their kids are falling behind.

Local taxpayers should also be concerned. Under the current funding system, the Avon Grove School District pays a charter school tuition rate of $11,499 for every student that does not require special education services and $26,785 per special education students. These tuition rates are not based on the charter school’s actual costs, but instead on the district’s own costs using a formula that was set in 1997.

As more students enroll, the burden on local taxpayer grows. The Avon Grove School District total charter school tuition expense more than doubled from $5.4 million in 2009 to $11 million in 2019. You don’t see this cost itemized on your property tax bill, but it puts real pressure on how much you pay. According to the Pennsylvania Association of School Business Officials, charter school tuition costs are one of the fastest growing mandated costs that is impacting school districts, including in Chester County.

People who care deeply about education can have different opinions about school choice, but I don’t know anyone who doesn’t believe in giving students the best possible chance. It makes no sense for local taxpayers to keep paying more to a school that is not performing as well as district-run schools.

The PA Charter Performance Center seeks to advance a Pennsylvania-specific, data-based conversation about student achievement and equity. The Center is a project of Public Citizens for Children and Youth (PCCY).