The facts on how charter schools are funded

M. L. Wernecke’s letter to the editor (Daily Local News, Feb. 22, 2021) perpetuates the misunderstanding about charter schools, particularly about the charter school I lead. Ms. Wernecke, who heads a Philadelphia-based anticharter organization, has a false sense of understanding about the students and families who trust Avon Grove Charter School with their children.

I am proud to serve a school that thousands of families have chosen because they are looking for a well-rounded education that supports individual students. Avon Grove Charter School educates students from several local school districts with vastly different academic achievement levels.

Ms. Wernecke compared our school’s entire performance to that of the Avon Grove School District only an approach that is more like comparing apples-tofootballs than apples-toapples. Avon Grove Charter School is succeeding when you compare our students’ achievement levels with their home school district peers. Furthermore, the longer a student is at our school, the faster they overcome the learning losses as our growth index has proven year to year. Is accountability necessary, absolutely; however, educating children involves more than success on a standardized test.

At the Avon Grove Charter School, we work extremely hard to ensure students are supported in all aspects of their development. This is not the time, during a pandemic, to focus on test scores as indicative of a student’s overall success.

I found Ms. Wernecke’s attempts to pit Avon Grove Charter School against our local school district disappointing. When schools should be working together to overcome a global pandemic and support every student, she attempted to divide our community and perpetuate the unhealthy competition that can exist between school districts and public charter schools. Unlike most charters and their authorizing districts, we have a strong relationship with the Avon Grove School District, and our entire community benefits from our mutual respect.

Ms. Wernecke’s misleading opinion piece claims that Avon Grove Charter School is a “burden on local taxpayer[s]...” and that our mere existence puts a financial strain on our local school districts, which is categorically false and meant to mislead our community. Pennsylvania’s public charter schools continually serve as a scapegoat for academically and financially failing schools.

It is hypocritical that “failing” school districts are not being held to the same high standards as public charter schools. There are 500 school districts in our Commonwealth, and a large portion are struggling with financial and academic failures. While the state shuts down public charter schools for these same struggles, they turn around and give millions in taxpayer dollars to bail these school districts out. PA’s public charter schools are not the reason why school districts are struggling to make ends meet.

The truth is that more than 30 percent of school district funding statewide goes to mandated pension costs. The tuition amounts that flow from school districts to public charter schools, like Avon Grove Charter School, are not the school district’s property.

These are funds allocated to the district from the state and local taxpayers to educate students the money belongs to the students. If a child chooses to leave a school district for a charter school, that district has no right to keep their funding. And yet, the law allows every school district to keep approximately 25 percent of my students’ funding without educating them.

The bottom line, we should all be accountable for the taxpayer money we use to educate the children we serve.

Avon Grove Charter School invites our community members to visit our thriving school and see, firsthand, how inspiring and successful our school truly is.

Kristen Bishop is the Chief Executive Officer for Avon Grove Charter School in Chester County. Avon Grove Charter School, a public school, opened their doors in 2002 and serves students in grades K-12, with all levels of educational needs. More information about Avon Grove Charter School can be found at www. agcharter.org.