Cyber charter reform passes committee

(The Center Square) – As Pennsylvania continues to grapple with a partisan divide over school choice and support for its public cyber charters, a bill has cleared the House Education Committee that would demand reform in the schools’ funding structure.

House Bill 1500 would standardize cyber tuition rates across the state for special education and regular education students, respectively, while capping the amount schools can hold in their balances. The bill would also institute restrictions and transparency measures aimed at holding the schools accountable for their spending and performance.

The bill’s prime sponsor, Rep. MaryLouise Isaacson, D-Philadelphia, noted that 487 of the state’s 500 school districts have passed resolutions demanding cyber charter reform.

“These are making unstable situations for the school districts in their budgeting process, and there needs to be some sort of oversight, uniformity, and making sure that our cyber charter schools, which are public schools since they are receiving and funded by public money, have the oversight of the Department of Education and come into parity with all other public schools and the requirements that those schools have to conform with,” said Isaacson.

The proposed legislation follows a bombshell audit from recently reelected Republican Auditor General Tim DeFoor. In addition to having large reserves of funds and unusual expenses, the state’s cyber charters substantially underperform academically compared to their traditional counterparts, many of which are also struggling.

“The cyber charter funding formula needs to change to reflect what is actually being spent to educate students and set reasonable limits to the amount of money these schools can keep in reserve,” said DeFoor following the audit.

DeFoor’s support left Democrats hopeful that a bipartisan solution could come into focus, though the committee vote on this particular effort was 14-12 down party lines.

Republicans said the bill had been rushed and that the suggested tuition cap would effectively eliminate charters outside students’ home districts.

Still, leadership indicated that opportunities remained to address the problems based on the informational hearings they’d attended in recent months.

“I thought the hearings were a good start,” said committee cochairman Bryan Cutler, R-Quarryville. “When I see this timeline and the 60,000 students who will ultimately be impacted by this and their families who for whatever reason chose to choose cyber school or a hybrid model, I think that it falls woefully short.”

The variety of reasons students turn to cyber charters underscores the debate around school choice in the commonwealth. Despite ongoing efforts to meet the mandate of a thorough and efficient system, many public schools leave students waiting.

“On average, public cyber charter schools educate larger percentages of students experiencing homelessness, larger percentages of students with special education needs, and larger percentages of economically disadvantaged  students than public school districts,” said John D. Marsh, CEO of Esperanza Cyber Charter School which predominantly serves students from North Philadelphia. “Cutting the funding for these vulnerable students has ethical and moral repercussions, not to mention the potential legal implications of singling out a subset of the public student population in the law to slash their funding.”

The CEO joined a chorus of cyber charter leaders who oppose the bill, saying that as public schools, they’re already subject to the same rules and expectations as their brick and mortar counterparts.

“Public cyber charter schools are public schools, regardless of the political rhetoric coming from lawmakers,” said Dr. Michael Leitera, CEO at PA Distance Learning Charter School. “Cyber charter schools are a vital resource and are a  vital piece of the public educational continuum that supports students in reaching the goal of earning a high school diploma.”