HARRISBURG, PA — With the state’s month-late budget still stuck in limbo over Harrisburg lawmakers’ disagreement about education funding, the PA House has now passed legislation that could bring big changes to cyber charter schools.

The bill still needs to get voted through the state Senate, however, and with a Republican majority there, it’s far from a slam dunk.

Funded by taxpayers

When students and their parents opt out of a traditional education at their local school district and choose to attend a charter school, it falls on that school district to foot the bill. Pennsylvania is one of only four states to fund charter schools this way, and it places a significant financial burden on the state’s public school districts. Many of which, the Commonwealth Court has found, are severely, unconstitutionally underfunded.

Enrollment in cyber charter schools, in particular, soared during the COVID-19 pandemic at a higher rate in PA than anywhere else in the country, according to a 2022 report by Research for Action. Pennsylvania Association of State Business Officials (PASBO), has reported that cyber charter schools received $980 million dollars in taxpayer-funded tuition payments in the 2020-21 school year.

Wayne Highlands School District Superintendent Gregory Frigoletto told the River Reporter last year that at the height of the pandemic, Wayne Highlands saw between 250 to 300 students attend cyber school to the tune of around $3 million a year.

Lack of accountability

Despite these dramatic upticks in enrollment, the commonwealth’s regulations governing charter schools have remained unamended for 20 years now. Notably absent are basic transparency requirements, like public meetings or “robust” financial disclosures.

The new legislation, H.B. 1422, aims to close some of those gaps. If signed into law, it would make cyber charter boards subject to the Sunshine Act—requiring board meetings made open to public attendance and participation. Cyber school’s budgets would also have to be publicized at least 20 days prior to adoption, and the public would be privy to five years of annual budgets, tax filings, audits and annual reports.

The bill would also set a new standard for the makeup of the boards—at least seven unrelated, unpaid, voting members, including one parent of a student attending the cyber school. Board members would further be categorized as public officials, subjecting them to state ethics standards and financial disclosures.

Changing the funding

The bill also answers a request from more than 450 school districts—including Wayne Highlands, Western Wayne, Wallenpaupack and other northeastern school districts—that adopted a 2023 resolution calling upon the General Assembly to “meaningfully reform the existing flawed charter school funding system to ensure that school districts and taxpayers are no longer overpaying or reimbursing charter schools for costs they do not have.”

The current rate varies per district based on a formula involving the amount of money schools spend on students and the number of students from that district who have opted for a cyber experience. Instead, H.B. 1422 would create a flat rate of $8,000 per non-special education student. This amount would increase every three years to account for rises in property taxes across each district.

Debate in Harrisburg

Before the state House’s vote, Rep. Tarah Probst, a Democrat who represents parts of Pike and Monroe counties, spoke fervently in favor of reforming the cyber charter landscape.

“If you do not support this bill, you are telling your taxpayers that they’ve been getting ripped off since 1997, and you’ve let it happen,” she told fellow lawmakers. “This is thievery on the taxpayers, and it’s thievery because 189,000 [cyber charter] students should not be treated as if they are the two million [public school students] that are being left behind. I have had it.”

In a “My View” published in the River Reporter, Dr. Anne Clark, CEO of the Pennsylvania Coalition of Public Charter Schools called Probst’s comments flippant and borderline libelous.

“The fact that 20,000 to 30,000 students are on waiting lists for various charters is a testament to the effectiveness of our schools,” Clark said. “Instead of dismissing charter schools outright, policymakers should work to ensure that all schools, whether they are traditional public schools or charter schools, are held to high standards of accountability and transparency. By doing so, we can give all students access to quality education, regardless of zip code.”

The bill passed the state House with the support of all 102 Democrats and some 20 Republicans, including Reps. Joe Adams and Jonathan Fritz.

Next on its journey, it faces the state Senate Committee on Education, chaired by Sen. Dave Argall, a Republican serving Carbon, Luzerne and Schuylkill counties. Argall is a proponent of school choice—the concept that students throughout the state ought to have access to a range of options beyond traditional public education, and he has made no promises.

He said he would support the legislation if it had fewer and less “controversial” reforms within, leaving it unclear whether the bill will make it to the Senate floor for a vote.

“We’re just not going to agree on 100 percent of any legislation,” Argall said. “If we agree on 10 to 15 percent, I’d like to get that through then talk about the other 85 percent.”