HB 940 Analysis

Summary: House Bill 940, introduced to the Pennsylvania House Education Committee in 2009 by House Representative Karen Beyer, was drafted in concert with the Pennsylvania School Boards Association (PSBA) and the Pennsylvania teachers union (PSEA) without any input from the cyber charter school community or the public. This bill will effectively destroy the growing movement of Pennsylvania cyber charter schools. Read more.

Legislative Alert 03-26-09

Cyber charter schools are the only tuition-free public schools of choice available to all students in the Commonwealth. There are currently eleven cyber charter schools educating upwards of 20,000 students.

Governor Rendell is seeking to change the funding formula for Pennsylvania Cyber Charter Schools. If his effort is successful, the new proposed formula could reduce cyber funding by as much as 20-30%. This is just the first step in reducing funding for all charter schools.

Governor Rendell’s appointed Secretary of Education, Dr. Gerald Zahorchak, at the Senate Education Committee on March 12, 2009 in York, stated:

“Our legislation establishes statewide regular and special education tuition rates for cyber charter schools based on the most efficient and effective cyber charters. In future years, the actual cyber charter tuition rate used to calculate school district payments would increase by the rate of inflation. School districts would save an estimated nearly $15 million a year from this change.”

Who could be against efficiency and effectiveness? Upon first glance, this seems like a fiscally conservative proposal. Upon closer examination, it becomes apparent that this is a blatant attempt to cut cyber charter funding and thereby handicap school choice in Pennsylvania.

Cyber charter schools are already doing more with less. Under the current funding formula, cyber schools receive 75% of the local district’s tuition allocated for each student. The local district keeps the remaining 25% and the state reimburses them another 30%. In other words, the school districts get to keep approximately 50% of the money with none of the costs of educating the student.

It is also important to understand that cyber charter schools cannot simply raise taxes to meet increased expenses. They are restricted to the funding from the local districts and therefore must operate in a more fiscally conservative manner. If the Secretary is so anxious to save money, why not cut the 30% reimbursement to the local districts?

The bottom line is that this issue is rooted in a fight for dollars when the discussion should be about our children and how the public education system can offer more parents school choice. Please write your State Legislator and State Senator to support true public school parental choice.

Charter School Hearing 03-12-09

Click Here for the complete testimony provided to the Senate Education Committee at the Hearing on 3/12/09 at Lincoln Edison Elementary Charter School.

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