Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Wolf pushing charter school reform law
Gov. Tom Wolf is looking to tackle perceived problems with the state’s charter school law, an issue that has long been a hot topic for local school leaders across Pennsylvania.
During a virtual media briefing Friday, the York County Democrat highlighted his plan to reform the law. The proposal was first announced during Wolf’s budget address this month.
Charter school officials and supporters are strongly opposed to Wolf’s plan.
Wolf said Friday that charter schools provide an important service, saying that every student learns differently and charter schools provide options to meet those needs. And, he added, many charter schools are doing an out
standing job. Others, however, are not. “The way the law is set up, we can’t guarantee that every charter school is giving every student the education they should get,” he said.
Wolf said there are a number of charter schools that are performing poorly, particularly cybercharters, which are some of the worst performing in the state.
At the same time, Wolf said, the costs of charter schools are rising. And because they’re funding through tax dollars — students’ tuitions are paid for by their home school districts — that is putting more and more pressure on taxpayers.
Local school districts have been forced to cut services and programs, to lay off staff and raise local property taxes, Wolf said.
“The current charter school funding formula is unfair,” the governor said.
So, Wolf is trying to do something about that. He is backing legislation that changes how charter schools are funded and create increased transparency and accountability.
“It’s time to fix our charter schools. It’s time to reform our charter school law,” he said. “That’s going to help us build a better Pennsylvania. That’s going to help us build a better education system.”
The plan
According to Wolf, his proposal would save school districts a combined $229 million per year.
That would be accomplished by better aligning tuitions to the actual costs charter schools incur.
One piece of that would be applying the special education funding formula used for traditional public school districts to charter schools, a move that would save about $99 million a year.
Charter schools currently are paid a flat rate for special education students, a system the governor called flawed because some charter schools end up getting vastly overpaid for services they do not provide.
The governor’s plan would save school districts another $130 million be instituting a statewide tuition rate for cybercharter schools.
Cyberschool tuition rates currently are based on perstudent spending of a student’s home district. That has led to cybercharters charging widely disparate rates to different school districts.
According to information provided by the governor’s office, cybercharter tuition rates can range from $9,170 to $22,300 for the same school.
The governor’s plan would create a statewide tuition rate that would ensure no district is charged more than $9,500 per regular education student.
The proposal would also create a set of school performance standards for charter schools. They would hold low-performing schools accountable and reward highperforming schools with more flexibility.
It would also limit enrollment for failing cybercharter schools until the quality of education improves.
Other measures in Wolf’s plan are aimed are creating more transparency and accountability for charter schools. He is proposing that charter schools must enact policies to prevent nepotism and conflicts of interest, and also ensure that leaders of charter schools follow requirements of the State Ethics Commission.
Pushback
Wolf’s plan has already begun receiving significant pushback from the charter school community.
A statement from the Pennsylvania Coalition of Public Charter Schools released Friday called Wolf’s plan an attack on charter schools.
“Pennsylvania families across the commonwealth are enjoying their lawful rights to enrolling their children in public charter schools,” Lenny McAllister, CEO of the coalition, said in the statement. “The General Assembly created charter schools 24 years ago to be a public alternative to school districts for families who couldn’t afford the educational choices available to those with the resources to pay for it. The governor wants to slash funding and limit these options for our state’s neediest families to benefit his political allies.”
Dr. Stacy Gill-Phillips, CEO of the West Philadelphia Achievement Charter Elementary School, said Wolf’s plan would cripple schools, including hers.
“I would like to stress how devastating any funding cuts would be for our children, especially in Philadelphia where the governor’s plan would slash special education funding by half for our students,” she said. “Philadelphia public charter schools, which operate on an extremely tight budget, have been leading the effort in our city to get students back in the classroom and any cut in resources would derail this progress.”
Other charter school leaders and supporters quoted in the release shared similar concerns, saying the governor’s plan is not in the best interest of students and their families.
“Now, more than ever, families in Pennsylvania need access to educational choices that meet the unique needs of their children,” said state Rep. Josh Kail, a Republican representing parts of Beaver and Washington counties. “It’s been six years of attacks on public charter schools from Governor Wolf and his political allies. If he truly wanted meaningful reforms he would spend less time talking about change at press conferences, and join my colleagues and I in working on comprehensive charter reforms that put students first.”
The release goes on to claim that charter schools serve a higher percentage of minority, low-income and special education students than traditional school districts.
“Public charter schools serve a diverse population of students,” said Dr. Dara Ware Allen, CEO of City Charter High School. “Many of them are some of Pennsylvania’s most vulnerable children who deserve our investment and support.”