For instance, no administrator or administrator’s family member may serve on the board. There are numerous restrictions on administrators and board members to prevent entanglements. There must be seven non-related members, and they may not have in any way, shape, or form a financial interest in the cyber charter or anyone doing business with it (and like all Pennsylvania school board members, they must serve without compensation.) The board must hold open meetings in compliance with the state’s sunshine law, just like any public school board. The bill is extremely specific about the governing board requirements. The bill requires cyber charters to provide 180 days or a required number of hours (900 for elementary, 990 for high school) per year, just like any public school. Probably with an eye on Oklahoma’s Catholic cyber charter, the bill explicitly forbids religious instruction and requires that the school will be “nonsectarian in all operations.” Education Voters of PA has determined that cyber charters spent a grand total of $52 million of taxpayer funds on marketing over just three years. The Democratic House Caucus estimates that the new payment system would send $455 million back to public school districts.īut beyond the issues of money, the bill also creates more accountability and transparency in cyber charter operation, bringing them in line with the rules governing public schools.Ĭyber charters may not advertise themselves as “free,” but must acknowledge that costs are “covered by taxpayer dollars.” Also, a cyber charter won’t be allowed to sponsor a public event, which is perhaps a reaction to Commonwealth Charter Academy’s sponsorship of a float for the 6abc Dunkin’ Donuts Thanksgiving Day Parade, part of a larger pattern of cyber charter marketing by sponsoring community events. Under the bill, cyber charters would be paid using the same method of tiers used by public schools. Charter schools get a single high tuition payment for all students with special needs, even if the student’s needs are a simple as one hour a week with a speech therapist. It also closes a longstanding loophole for special ed students Pennsylvania public schools fund students with special needs based on separate tiers of spending levels based on the student’s needs. Instead of a tuition rate can currently vary from $9,000 to $22,000 per student, the bill sets a standard rate of $8,000 per “regular” student. The marquee item is the creation of a single tuition cost for all districts in the state. HB 1422 passed the House last week, with yes votes from all Democrats and 20 Republicans, a sign that many local districts, particularly poor ones, are hit hard by cyber charter costs, and that conservatives can share concerns about unaccountable spending of taxpayer dollars. Now that reform could be coming over the horizon. Given that we can provide the exact same cyber learning experience as the Insight PA Cyber Charter School for just $3,000 per student, I believe that the current cyber school funding scheme is an unjustified waste of taxpayers’ hard-earned money.” For special education students, the cost rises to $23,587 per student. I also want to point out that if a regular education student enrolls in Insight PA Cyber Charter School, our taxpayers are billed a mandated $13,118 per student. I want to note that the K12 Learning Solutions platform we purchased is the exact same platform used by Insight PA Cyber Charter School. Because we use our teachers and equipment, the average cost per student to the district is about $3,000. “When the pandemic started, our district contracted an online learning system from K12 Learning Solutions (Stride) to offer our students an online schooling option facilitated by our teachers.
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