Why cyber charter schools are failures

To the Times:

Too bad about those cyber charter schools. They were hoping to cash in big time on virtual education, since that was already their specialty while their brick- andmortar cousins and the district schools were still struggling to adapt to the new world created by the coronavirus pandemic. All thanks to the taxpayers, of course. Yes, they are called “public” cyber charters, which means you and I pay the bills.

Now they’re upset because the state is saying that, if a school district offers its own cyber program, it doesn’t have to pay for the same service twice by also paying a cyber charter.

As the least regulated – thus least accountable – sector of the public education system, cyber charters have been able to get paid royally for what would have to be considered a less than a great product. Unlike brick and mortar charters, the cybers do not report to the local school district but directly to Harrisburg, in theory at least. And just how much the Pennsylvania Department of Education invests in holding the cybers accountable is a good question.

Want to know where that money for cyber charters actual goes or how it’s used? Try finding out. The Pennsylvania charter school law does not require independent audits for charter school organizations, unlike district schools.

One of the big expenses for those cybers is advertising. If you don’t think so, just go to Google and check “cyber charter schools.” You will see the term” free” thrown around a lot. Like all those “free” things in the numerous TV ads for patent medicines, with pictures of happy old folks playing with the grandkids, and the warnings about possible side effects in small print at the bottom of the screen that are whisked away before you have a chance to read them. No, that’s us paying those bills for those ads, which means less for actual education.

Then, of course, there are the profits for the cyber charters’ owners, who, unlike the rest of us, don’t need to pay for the kind of real estate, building upkeep, etc., that the rest do. Again, unaccounted for.

As to what kind of education children get in cyber charters, the results are dismal in most cases. One study by Public Citizens for Children and Youth found that more than 61 percent of cyber charter students failed the reading portion of the PSSA, the standardized test used throughout the state, while over 85 percent did not pass math.

So buyer beware. Yes, it is your tax money, and, just as with those sleek car ads, you need to know what’s under the hood.