(C) Pennsylvania Capital-Star
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Cyber charter school reform tops legislative agenda as fair education funding effort continues • Pennsylvania Capital-Star [1]
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Date: 2025-05-01 16:48:44+00:00
Educators say they’ve seen measurable improvements in student achievement and well-being in the school districts where Pennsylvania targeted a half billion dollars to reduce educational disparities, according to a new report.
The adequacy funding, provided as the first installment in a $4.5 billion settlement with advocates for fair public education funding, has allowed districts to hire and retain essential staff such as reading and math specialists, increase teacher salaries and purchase curricula and other resources.
“State adequacy funding and other recent increases in state education dollars have given Pennsylvania school districts critical financial stability and new capacity to invest directly in student success and well being,” Nelson Suarez, a fourth grade teacher in the Manheim Township School District in Lancaster County, said.
But educators and advocates say excessive payments to online-only charter schools threaten to negate the progress those districts have made. As lawmakers square up to negotiate the next state budget by the end of next month, they also hope to pass legislation to set a statewide tuition rate and require accountability, following an audit that found five cyber charters, including state’s largest, amassed excessive reserves of state tax dollars.
“If there is no cyber charter reform this year and the rest of the dollars go through, there will be districts that will be further behind, starting in the fall, than they were last year. 100%. Absolutely, no question about it,” Susan Spicka, executive director of Education Voters PA, said during the news conference this week held by Teach Plus, a teacher-led education policy group.
According to Education Voters, tuition paid by school districts to cyber charter schools roughly doubled to $1 billion between 2018 and 2023 as parents sought online education for their children during the pandemic.
Members of the House Education Committee, where the Democratic majority plans to renew efforts for reform, said they’re hopeful bipartisan support for a statewide tuition rate in the lower chamber will carry through to the Republican-controlled Senate.
“I think there is an appetite in our constrained budget that we want to be certain adequate funding is getting to our schools and students and not lacing the pocketbooks of charter schools,” said Rep. Mary Louise Isaacson (D-Philadelphia), who is drafting charter reform legislation. Rep. Joe Ciresi (D-Montgomery) has proposed a similar bill.
Two years ago, Commonwealth Court President Judge Renee Cohn Jubelirer ended a decade of litigation by some of the state’s most disadvantaged school districts and parents of students by finding the state’s education funding system’s reliance on property taxes to be unconstitutional.
“Specifically, it discriminated against students … whose local districts don’t have the property wealth to be able to essentially close a shortfall that the state has created by under investing in our public schools at the state level,” Laura Boyce, executive director of Teach Plus Pennsylvania, said.
The historic court ruling made clear that the General Assembly and governor were responsible to find a solution, but didn’t provide instructions. Over several months, an inter-branch Basic Education Funding Commission held hearings and gathered data to develop recommendations on how to close the funding gap.
Acting on the recommendations, the legislature reached an agreement with the advocacy groups who litigated the case in which the state would increase funding over the next nine years for 348 school districts where per pupil spending fell below that of the commonwealth’s most successful districts. It would also provide additional funding for tax relief in the districts that taxed property owners the most in efforts to keep up.
Norristown Area School District Superintendent Christopher Dormer said with prior years’ supplements and $10 million in additional funding the district received this school year, it has been able to add 140 staff positions that have allowed smaller class sizes, added more than 20 reading specialists and provided mental health support for students, families and staff.
“Now, part of that story is the 140 positions have also overcome almost a decade-and-a-half of program reduction, staff curtailments and raising taxes and spending down fund balance,” Dormer said.
As a result, elementary math proficiency has increased 10 percentage points and middle school math proficiency increased 5 percentage points, Dormer said. Others among the teachers and administrators quoted in the report said they’ve seen decreases in disciplinary issues and truancy.
“The results are not surprising, nor should they be surprising when you adequately and appropriately fund public schools, success happens, and we’ve done this without raising local taxes for four consecutive years,” he said, adding that over the previous 12 years, taxes increased 40%.
Gov. Josh Shapiro’s 2025-2026 budget proposal calls for another $526 million toward the $4.5 billion adequacy goal. It would also increase basic education funding that all districts receive by $75 million to more than $8.2 billion and special education funding would increase $40 million to more than $1.5 billion.
It also highlights the need for legislation to set the tuition for public school students attending cyber charter schools at $8,000, which Shapiro said better aligns with the actual cost of providing an online education. A statewide tuition would save school districts an estimated $378 million annually, the governor’s office said.
A measure to do that passed the House last year with strong bipartisan support, but was not considered in the Senate. The budget did set aside $100 million to reimburse districts for charter school tuition and made adjustments to the formula used to calculate special education rates.
However, the state continues to use the method to calculate tuition devised when cyber charter schools were first permitted more than a quarter century ago. That results in widely inconsistent rates paid by different districts, ranging from about $8,000 to $29,000 per student for regular education students to up to $63,000 per student for special education.
Critics say the varying tuition rates have resulted in overpayments former Gov. Tom Wolf’s office estimated at $400 million a year.
In February, Republican state Auditor General Timothy DeFoor released an audit of five cyber charter schools that found their fund balances had increased 144% collectively between 2020 and 2023.
While it found the cyber charter schools acted within the law, it highlighted “uncommon” spending practices such as purchasing gift cards, paying bonuses to teachers and the acquisition of 21 physical properties by Commonwealth Charter Academy, the state’s largest cyber school.
House Education Committee Chairperson Peter Schweyer (D-Lehigh) told the Capital-Star he sees the issues with cyber charter schools as multifaceted, with tuition rates being only one of them. Schweyer said he agrees with Shapiro that a statewide rate is needed and is open to negotiating, adding $8,000 is a good starting point.
But Schweyer said the most pressing issue is cyber charter schools’ poor performance on statewide assessments. He noted less than 5% of Commonwealth Charter Academy students scored proficient or advanced in math, which is far below the state average of 40%.
“In what universe should we be paying hundreds of millions of dollars to schools that can’t teach their students basic math skills?” Schweyer said.
Rep. Bryan Cutler (R-Lancaster), the ranking Republican on the Education Committee, said he opposes legislation that would reduce access to alternatives to traditional public education.
“I believe that cyber charter schools provide a fair opportunity for all students, especially those in underperforming schools, and that this legislation would hurt them more than help our finances,” Cutler said.
Cutler added he would prefer to see reforms focused elsewhere, such as more opportunities for technical education and dual enrollment for high school students.
But Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman (R-Indiana) said in a policy position statement last month that he believes that criticism of cyber charter schools have merit.
The state made progress last year, Pittman said, with tuition reimbursement and other ethics and accountability reforms. They include requiring financial statements, prohibiting conflicts of interest, reporting requirements for advertising and sponsorships and mandating wellness checks for students.
“However there is an opportunity for more to be done,” he said, noting scrutiny of cyber charter reserves, greater accuracy in tuition calculations and meaningful truancy reforms are all worthy of discussion as lawmakers debate the next budget.
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