HARRISBURG, Pa. (KYW Newsradio) — A bill that would reform cyber charter school funding in the commonwealth has cleared the Education Committee and is moving ahead in the Pennsylvania House. The thorny issue sparked an emotional debate during a committee hearing on fairness and opportunity in education.
After conversations with public school districts and charter schools, prime sponsor Montgomery County Democrat Joe Ciresi says the bill would make what he calls much needed changes to Pennsylvania’s laws on cyber charter schools. It sets a flat tuition rate which school districts pay to cyber charters, revises special education funding, and puts transparency and advertising requirements in place.
For example, he said, Pottstown School District would save $1.4 million annually. York Area School District would save $4.8 million.
Bringing the cyber charter school funding formula more closely in line with the actual costs of cyber education would put $500 million back into public school districts’ budgets across the state, he said.
“This bill gives us the opportunity for our taxpayers to save money and still promote the opportunity of school choice,” Ciresi said.
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Western Pennsylvania Republican Jessie Topper says, while some see it as savings, others see it as a cut to what, for them, may be the only educational opportunity.
“There also have to be options in districts like mine that don't have parochial schools or private institutions. And that right now is cyber charters,” Topper said.
Chester County Democrat Paul Friel says staging the debate as “us vs. them” isn’t leading to any solutions.
“We have to move some of these bills forward that do that, because I think we will hurt charter kids, ultimately, by delaying this and delaying this, because, at some point, it fails and the dam breaks.”
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But Allegheny County Republican Robert Mercuri says the bill could force cyber charters to close, especially in areas of the state where they’re the only alternative to public schools.
“For us to take away the funding in a pull-out–the-rug manner is inappropriate,” Mercuri said.
Northeastern Pennsylvania Democrat Tarah Probst says it’s a matter of fairness.
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“Almost 2 million kids are being literally hemorrhaged for money into their public school systems every day. For 189,000 kids, we just want it to be fair and equitable.”
While the bill advanced on a party-line vote, several Democrats on the committee say they support these changes, but add the entire school funding system in Pennsylvania needs to be overhauled.
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