Cyber charter school funding must change
An inequitable and blatantly unfair funding formula for cyber charter schools in Pennsylvania has inflated the amount of money they receive — at the expense of other public schools.
The problem has a simple solution. Instead of fixing it, however, legislators have let it fester, as enrollments at the state’s 14 cyber charter schools, fueled by the pandemic, have soared. Between 2019 and 2020, enrollments rose from about 38,000 students to roughly60,000 students.
With that growth, cyber charters have shifted hundreds of millions of dollars in Pennsylvania’s 500 school districts from traditional public schools. In effect, the funding formula has created two separate systems of publiceducation.
Here’s the problem: Under state law, cyber charter schools, which are public, are paid the same per-student rate as are traditional brick-and-mortar schools. But cyber charters operate without some of the fixed costs of traditional schools, such as building maintenance.
Pennsylvania’s 500 school districts pay different per-pupil rates: Cyber charters might receive $10,000 per studentper year or more than $20,000.
Whatever the rate, the costs per pupilin cyber charter schools are roughly 30 percent below traditional public schools,according to most estimates.
The disparity has forced some local districts to make decisions about eliminating education programs or increasing class sizes, said Mark DiRocco, executive director of the Pennsylvania Association of School Administrators. “We need a formula that gives them enough money to operatewithout gouging districts.”
Pittsburgh Public schools set aside more than $106 million for charter school tuition in its 2020-2021 budget, roughly 16 percent of its $671 million budget.
Cyber charters may accept students from any school district in the state. A student in Philadelphia, for example, could attend a cyber charter in Pittsburgh.
Inflated tuition rates for cyber charters are not justified by performance. Cyber charters have scored below the state average on English and math assessments.
Gov. Tom Wolf has proposed comprehensive charter school reform that he estimated would save school districts about $229 million a year. Legislation pending in the General Assembly would set a statewide cyber charter tuition rate of about $9,450 (rates would be higher for special education students).
The amount proposed by the governor is still too high, but it is certainly more in line with actual education costs.
Aside from funding changes, HB 272 and SB 27, which have sat in committee for nearly a year, also include much-needed reforms for transparency and accountability.
Cyber charters have a definite place in the public school system. When traditional public schools were slow to meet the demand for online learning during the pandemic, cyber charters were there to provide an alternative. Parents want education choices for their children. Online instruction may be the most effective wayto learn for certain students.
Still, cyber charter school funding should not penalize other public schools, where the vast majority of the state’s 1.7 million students will be educated or not educated.