Due to the urgent need to hold charter schools and cyber charter schools accountable has increased as enrollment and taxpayer costs have swelled during the COVID-19 pandemic. Governor Tom Wolf has unveiled a “common sense and fair bipartisan plan that protects students, parents and taxpayers.” The plan is said to hold low-performing charter schools accountable to improve the quality of education, protect taxpayers by reining in skyrocketing charter school costs, and increase the transparency of for-profit companies that run many charter schools.

According to the Wolf administration, the plan would protect taxpayers and save school districts $229 million a year by better aligning charter school funding to their actual costs so school districts are not forced to overpay. The plan:
-Saves $99 million a year by applying the special education funding formula for traditional public schools to charter schools as recommended by the Bipartisan Special Education Funding Commission. The current flawed process requires school districts to pay charter schools using the outdated assumption that 16 percent of students get special education. As a result, some charters are vastly overpaid for services they do not provide, leaving special education students in school districts and other charter schools with less funding.
-Saves $130 million a year with a single per student tuition rate that school districts pay cyber schools. Providing an online education costs the same regardless of where the student lives, but cyber schools charge school districts between $9,170 and $22,300 per student, while Intermediate Units only charge $5,400 per online student. Establishing a single statewide rate ensures that school districts are not charged more than $9,500 per regular education student, reflecting the actual cost of an online education by higher performing cyber schools.

The plan is also said to protect students by holding low-performing charter schools accountable to ensure charter schools are providing students with a quality education and creates charter school performance standards that hold low-performing charter schools accountable and reward high-performing charters with more flexibility. It also limits cyber school enrollment until their educational quality improves. All 14 cyber schools in Pennsylvania are designated for federal school improvement, with the vast majority among the lowest 5 percent of public schools.

The governor’s plan is also purported to increase transparency to restore the public’s trust in charter schools by holding the for-profit companies that manage many of the schools to the same financial and ethical standards as school districts and to require charter schools to have policies to prevent nepotism and conflicts of interest so leaders do not use charter schools for their own financial benefit. It also requires charter schools and their leaders follow requirements of the State Ethics Commission, since they are public officials.

To read the press release, click here or go to: https://www.media.pa.gov/pages/education-details.aspx?newsid=1051