14-05-2025
Brown to introduce charter school legislation
State Sen. Rosemary Brown hopes to change the way school districts fund cyber charter schools.
The legislation, which has not yet formally been introduced, would adjust payments public school districts are burdened with when students opt into cyber charter education.
Brown, R-40, Middle Smithfield Twp., said she has 'long believed that supporting school choice must go hand-in-hand with ensuring fairness and fiscal responsibility.'
The legislation says districts that offer an in-house cyber charter school, equal in scope to a third-party charter, will only be required to pay tuition up to the amount it spends per pupil in its own cyber program.
'This proposal builds on my earlier work to reform special education funding for cyber and charter schools,' Brown added, citing a policy first introduced by the state senator in 2022 when she was a state representative, which earned her the Pennsylvania School Boards Association Champion of Public Education Award. 'These efforts represent a comprehensive, commonsense approach to improving accountability, protecting taxpayer dollars, and supporting both public education and parental choice.'
Under the current law, when a student chooses to attend a cyber charter school, their home district must pay tuition and other costs to the charter school of a family's choosing, which is calculated based on the district's per-student spending. Costs to educate a special education student are higher .
School districts' per-student costs shape the tuition cyber charters receive from the district. Brown's legislation proposes that if a school district offers its own cyber charter school comparable in scope and content to external cyber charter schools, the district would only be required to pay tuition up to the amount it spends per pupil in its own cyber program. The change, said Brown in the legislation memo, will hopefully provide a more equitable funding structure and reduce the burden placed on public schools.
Brown's plan, titled, School District Cyber Charter School Funding, and circulated on May 6, will take an additional step to protect tax dollars.
'This legislation will also add a requirement that IP addresses may be validated by a home district before reimbursement is released, ensuring local taxpayer dollars are appropriately distributed,' Brown said in the legislative memo. Validating the IP addresses would prevent fraud.
According to a report by Pennsylvania School Boards Association, school districts in the Commonwealth spend an estimated $3 billion annually in charter tuition, and 92% of school boards across the state are calling for charter school reform, expressing the need for changes such as the legislation Brown is introducing.
In the 2023-2024 year, Scranton School District spent $11.3 million on cyber charters, said Pat Laffey, the Scranton School District's Assistant to the Superintendent for Finance and Operations
'The proposed legislation if adopted would have a significant impact, potentially reducing the cost by 50%,' Laffey explained, adding that it would allow for investments in additional resources for the district's students.
Dr. Erin Keating, the Superintendent of Scranton School District, said any step in reforming the current cyber charter funding system is a benefit to the district.
'We would see significant savings with this legislation that we would be able to invest in our students and our schools,' Keating said. 'Legislation that supports any child staying in their home district is a benefit to the district and the student.'
She added that there is currently 'no oversight regarding how cyber charter schools are funded.'
Warren Acker, president of the Abington Heights School Board, said reform needs to take place around the current funding formula used by school districts to pay tuition for students and families who opt for charter schools.
'There is a tremendous amount of inequity with the charter schools situation in Pennsylvania, and it's really not fair, because public schools are all struggling to pay the bills,' Acker said. 'And charter schools are doing just wonderfully because of the funding formulas.'
Rebekah King, a teacher at West Scranton High School, said the funding formula is outdated, leading to overspending by school districts.
'We're astronomically overpaying, especially for special education students,' King said. 'The formula has to be readjusted.'
She added that she believes that families should get to choose the right learning environment for their child, but that some costs should be applicable to parents.
