CASD announces $53K in savings so far in update on cyber charter tuition audit

Yahoo

09-05-2025

With $8 million budgeted for cyber charter school tuition payments this school year, Chambersburg Area School District verified this week that it was paying cyber tuition for four students living outside the school district.
Meanwhile, the district has not heard back from about 440 other cyber charter students contacted via letter, email and/or by phone as part of an effort to determine whether the district is paying cyber charter tuition for students living outside district boundaries, an official said at Tuesday's regular board meeting.
Superintendent Chris Bigger publicly announced the cyber charter tuition audit at the March 25 board meeting, saying it began as part of a look into attendance across the district. At the time, Assistant Superintendent Mark Long said the district had identified two cyber charter students who were living in another state after returned mail led to further investigation.
District officials reached out to all of the approximately 550 students for whom the district, per state law, pays tuition to attend an outside cyber charter school, according to support services director Bobbie Stine.
Of those, 88 returned documentation affirming their district residency. Twenty letters were returned non-deliverable, indicating the student no longer lives at the address the district had on file.
By eliminating the four students identified as living outside the district, the effort has yielded about $52,599 in savings to date, Stine said.
CASD's bill for cyber charter school tuition more than doubled, to $7.1 million, between the 2018-19 and 2023-24 school years, according to district data. The district expects to pay an additional $1 million this school year.
This school year, the tuition rates increased to more than $12,000 for each regular student and nearly $30,000 for each special education student, according to the district's data. This year's budget includes $8 million for cyber charter tuition.
The tuition rate for regular education students has risen 39% over the past 10 years, while the special education rate has gone up 73%, according to Stine.
The district is still working to communicate with the families of cyber students it has not yet reached. The district sends correspondence that was returned to the student's cyber charter school with a request that their address be verified.
"It's a slow process," Stine said.
Bigger noted some districts hire full-time employees just to verify cyber charter students.
"So there are opportunities for us if we need moving forward that we are considering if we don't get better responses or legislative change," he said.
Previous reporting: Are taxpayers footing the bill for out-of-state cyber school students?
In Pennsylvania, public school districts are legally required to pay tuition for in-district students who choose to attend a cyber charter school. As more families have turned to cyber charter schools in recent years, particularly since the COVID-19 pandemic, the amount districts pay has skyrocketed.
School districts have been pushing for changes to cyber charter funding system since before the pandemic. Bigger said he is confident legislation is close.
"Cyber school reform has been talked about for my entire administrative career with very little to no action. If it doesn't happen his year, I'm never going to bring it up again in a public meeting," he said. "The cyber school reform may happen. This is the year. If it's going to happen, it's going to be this year."
Board member Mike Hayduk, Region 7, said it is important for any organization to eliminate fraud, waste and abuse of resources.
" I would urge every resident to contact their elected state officials and insist that legislation be passed to end the unfair practices that many cyber schools take advantage of," he said. "The Chambersburg Area School District recognizes that cyber school offer options for many families, but we should expect competition to be fair with transparency and accountability. The same standards that our district is required to comply with."
Board Vice President Faye Gaugler, Region 1, said cyber charter schools should be held to the same standards as public schools. There should be transparency on finances and educational outcomes.
"I commend the CASD administration for investigating the issue of residency of students. Inequity of funding is a separate issue from the payment for students who are not residing in the district and is equally important to address but can only be done by the state legislature," she said.
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Families in CASD do have an in-house option for virtual education: Chambersburg Virtual Academy.
If all 373 students attended outside cyber schools instead, the district would pay an additional $5.2 million to outside schools, according to Heidi Minnier, CVA principal.
In addition, about 170 students attend part-time, taking one or a few classes, through various district-affiliated programs. Students also take virtual classes to make up credits needed for graduation.
A big majority of enrollees are secondary students, with 293 high-schoolers and 57 middle-school students.
For 2025-26: CVA will discontinue its elementary virtual program, due to both low enrollment and to support the district's goal that all students be able to read by third grade.
'One of our district initiatives is to make sure students are reading by grade three, and we feel that the way that's going to happen, to reach that goal students need to be in person with a live teacher, every day," Minnier said.
Amber South can be reached at [e-mail].
This article originally appeared on Chambersburg Public Opinion: CASD cyber charter tuition audit: $53K saved from 4 students