Школы кибер-хартера в Пенсильвании предупреждают о закрытии из-за сокращения финансирования

Pennsylvania cyber-charter schools brace for new year amid funding cuts, rising enrollment PENNSYLVANIA (WJAC) — As Pennsylvania students prepare to return to school, about 60,000 are expected to log on instead of heading back to a traditional classroom, attending one of the state’s public cyber charter schools. Cyber charter officials say their enrollment has been climbing each year and has nearly doubled since COVID, but they argue funding changes in recent years have left online schools with significantly less money than they would have received under the former law. One cyber charter official said cyber charter schools in Pennsylvania are missing out on hundreds of millions of dollars in funding they would have gotten under the previous rules with rising enrollment. Cyber charter schools are funded when a student leaves a traditional brick-and-mortar district for a cyber charter. The online school then receives a percentage of what the district says it costs to educate that student. Marcus Hite, executive director of the Pennsylvania Association of Public Cyber Charter Schools, said cyber charters used to receive about 75% of the cost per student, but that amount is now closer to 60%. “So you have got cyber charters basically providing a quality education at 60% of what these school districts are assessing their taxpayers to attend their own bricks and mortar schools. And so yes, it has been a negative impact,” Hite said. Hite said there were not cuts for cyber charters in this year’s budget, but said the two years prior resulted in about $350 million that cyber charters would have received under the former rules. “Yet it continues to go to public bricks and mortar schools, where we see numbers across the state, enrollments are still declining. Schools are still spending more for less students,” Hite said. Traditional school officials, however, say the money staying with districts is making a major impact as they face rising costs. They say expenses have increased even with fewer students, citing inflation-related costs that cyber charters do not have to manage. Cambria Heights School District Superintendent Ken Kerchenske pointed to rising utility, transportation, and extra curricular costs that cyber schools don't have to worry about. “So just as individuals are seeing in their electric bill at home, for example, a big increase over the past year, 18 months, schools are also recognizing that costs associated with transportation and fuel as fuel prices go up for individuals. They also go up for school districts,” Kerchenske said. Central Cambria superintendent Jason Moore said the same. "The recent changes for cyber charter schools have been a long overdue improvement for students and taxpayers. Cyber charters have built up large reserve funds because they don’t have transportation or utility costs, both of which have skyrocketed far faster than the rate of inflation," Moore said. Kerchenske also said some state requirements have added expenses, including security measures. “So a decade ago, for example, very few schools in the area might have had school police officers or armed security guards, maybe for special events or after school activities, but not throughout the school day. Now that's a requirement. So these are additional costs that schools have had to take on regardless of what happens to our enrollment,” he said. Cyber charter officials say they expect enrollment to continue rising and are asking lawmakers not to make additional funding cuts. Some traditional school officials have called the reforms made so far “common sense.” A cyber charter school official said if cuts happen again in the future, some online schools may have to shut down, adding that it would not be a matter of if, but when some cyber charters close.