Cyber costs troubling districts

Opposing sides of alternative school debate agree reforms are needed

The debate about how cyber charter schools are funded and impact public school district budgets has been ongoing for years. Many agree there needs to be reform efforts made, but there are differences of opinion about how to move forward.

House Bill 1422, a Democratic-backed attempt to reform cyber charter school funding, passed the state House in July with support from 21 Republicans, but has sat stagnant in the Republican-controlled Senate education committee for several months.

Local state representatives who voted against the bill, including Rep. Jim Gregory, R-Hollidaysburg, said it would've cut $456 million from cyber charter schools and eliminate options for students.

"It went too far and would've shut down over half of the cyber charter schools without any plan to address what would happen to those students," Gregory said of why he voted against the bill.

State Rep. Lou Schmitt, R-Altoona, said he thinks the bill addresses a valid issue, but needs a lot of work to make it through the Senate.

"I'm not saying that we don't need some reform when it comes to cyber charters, and I know the economic impact they have on school districts," he said. "But I'm not going to vote for a reform bill that reforms cyber schools to death."

Schmitt said there needs to be choices for students who are bullied or have anxiety disorders because not every kid is going to thrive in a traditional brick and mortar public school.

"Just like I don't think every kid is meant to go to college, I don't think every kid is made to go to a traditional public school," he said, adding choice brings about chance.

There are 14 cyber charter schools and 165 brick and mortar charter schools in the state. According to Schmitt, both types of charter schools educated a combined 165,000 students in Pennsylvania during the 2022-23 school year. It's estimated around 70,000 of those students are in cyber charter schools, he said.

"That's a lot of kids," he said. "I'm sure the school boards and the school superintendents would love to see cyber charters and charter schools gone. But if we allow that to happen, then what do we do with these 165,000 students?"

Public opinion

During a state of the district address in December, Altoona Area Superintendent Brad Hatch said the district has 325 students who attend outside cyber charter schools instead of the district's internal cyber academy, costing the district about $3.6 million annually.

"It is at a significant cost to the Altoona Area School District and to taxpayers for those students to attend a program that we offer internally," Hatch said. "We feel like we do it with more accountability, and that we do a better job with more options at a fraction of the cost."

Beginning in kindergarten, students can be part of "an evolving, student centered, online learning opportunity" to best meet the needs of students and families in the Altoona community, Hatch said, adding about 625 students are in the district's cyber program.

"Our cyber program also allows for flexible scheduling for parents and students alike, as we have roughly 100 students currently who are taking advantage of a hybrid model between brick and mortar and online learning," he said.

Williamsburg Community Superintendent Lisa Murgas said students in their internal cyber program work with guidance counselors and principals to enroll in courses that are "challenging and hold students to high expectations."

Spring Cove Superintendent Betsy Baker said the district has an in-house cyber option called Spring Cove Cyber, which offers courses to 22 students through Edmentum in grades K-2 and through Odysseyware in grades 3-12.

Cyber charter school tuition continues to be one of Bellwood-Antis School District's top budgetary pressures, according to a letter sent to the Mirror signed by Superintendent Edward DiSabato and Business Manager Gregory Gates.

They said without cyber charter tuition costs, the district would have had a surplus instead of a deficit for the 2021-22 and 2022-23 school years. According to their letter, cyber charter school tuition made up 98% of their general fund deficit for the 2022-23 school year.

DiSabato said he understands there's a need for online education services for some students and he's not against students having options, but the impact charter school tuition has on the smaller school district is "really concerning," he said.

"If we didn't have that cost, we'd be much more efficient budget-wise,"

DiSabato said. "The cost is passed back onto (taxpayers) and we're mandated to pay that amount of money."

Central Cambria Superintendent Jason Moore said tuition payments paid to cyber charter schools are not based on what it actually costs to educate a student remotely.

"In fact, we are charged over six times what it costs Central Cambria to educate a student in our in-district cyber platform," he said, adding the district pays $700k in tuition for 40 students to attend cyber charter schools.

Moore said he thinks the percentage of students for whom cyber learning is best is "very small" and added the issue public schools have with cyber charters isn't an issue of choice, it's how they are funded.

"For an overwhelming majority of students, there is no replacement for quality in-person learning," he said. "Students need to learn how to work with each other and learn to solve problems in teams."

Bullying is a challenge for many students across all school districts, but Moore said those issues are best solved with the guidance of caring adults.

One of the main reasons teachers and administrators at Central Cambria put such a high emphasis on athletics and extracurriculars is because of the protective factors they offer to students, Moore said.

"When students are connected to school and to peers, they don't experience the pain and spiraling of a student who doesn't fit in," he said. "Every student is good at something. It's our job to help them find it."

Moore said he thinks the increased popularity of cyber charters, for some students, is a lack of accountability. He said whenever students return to Central Cambria after time in a cyber charter school, they "are almost always significantly behind."

Addressing a need

Some leaders of cyber charter schools have taken exception to the idea of students enrolling in their schools so they don't have to be accounted for.

Tim Eller, senior vice president of outreach and government relations for Commonwealth Charter Academy, the largest cyber charter school in the state, said cyber charter schools are nonprofit organizations that follow many of the same rules and regulations school districts follow.

"Our kids come to us because families choose to go here," Eller said, adding bullying, not feeling respected by their school district and parents wanting to know what their children are learning are the three top reasons students leave districts for charter schools.

Eller said the majority of students with disabilities who newly enroll at his school already have an individualized education program from their previous school district.

"The rhetoric about incentives for charter schools to identify students with special needs is flat-out wrong," he said.

Eller said Commonwealth Charter Academy has 166 students enrolled from Blair County, including 14-year-old Avalyn Vasil.

Hollidaysburg resident Megan Vasil, Avalyn's mother, said one of the reasons her daughter moved to a cyber charter school was because she was in a gifted program and was being teased by other students.

"She started to dread going to school, and I hated that because she was so excited about learning," Vasil said of her daughter. "She has done so much better now that she can do her school work here."

Vasil said she's fine with her taxpayer dollars going to a cyber charter school because the switch for her daughter has made a big difference in her confidence and education.

"I don't want to hurt the public school," she said. "But I do think that it's important that there's an option for kids to go cyber and that the taxpayer money goes toward that education since they're not in the brick and mortar school."

Lawrence Feinberg, director of Keystone Center for Charter Change at the Pennsylvania School Boards Association, said one reason why they support House Bill 1422 is because it would set a standard statewide tuition rate for cyber charter students.

He said cyber charter schools can enroll students from anywhere in the state, and the sending school districts are paying different tuition rates despite the students receiving the same educational services.

"Why should they be getting 500 different tuition rates? What kind of sense does that make?" he asked. "That's why we're pushing for a rate that more accurately reflects what it costs to educate a kid in a cyber school environment."

According to Feinberg, of the $3.6 million the Altoona Area School District pays cyber charter schools, the district's taxpayers could save $571,582 if there was a set statewide tuition rate.

Malynda Maurer, chief executive officer of the Central PA Digital Learning Foundation, said the school's niche is they have a "personal touch" with everything they do.

Maurer said her school has 214 students enrolled. She said sometimes students flee to other cyber charters because they're not looking to be as active and engaged as the school wants them to be.

"We try to put safety nets in place to ensure that our students are being held accountable to the same kind of standards that they would get if they were in a traditional school," she said.

Maurer said she might stand out from other cyber charter school leaders in saying "I do agree that there needs to be a different calculation for funding."

"I am educating an Altoona student the same as I'm educating a Pittsburgh student, yet they're paying two different rates. I get that," she said. "And that's what needs to change."

Schmitt said he's not philosophically opposed to cyber charter school reforms and there are reforms, with regard to transparency and accountability, he thinks are reasonable.

"I think the playing field should be level for all of those public schools," he said. "What I don't believe in is attempting to make the playing field level by removing the other team from the field entirely, which is what I think House Bill 1422 would do."

Legislative badminton

State Rep. Jesse Topper, R-Bedford/Fulton, who is the House education committee chairman, said House Bill 1422 "was a poison pill for charter reform efforts" moving forward.

"It was poorly written in many places," he said, adding "it would've set back the work that has been done on this issue over the past few years and trying to get to a consensus that can actually work."

Topper said there aren't many private schools in the counties he represents, which means cyber charter schools are the only form of school choice those families are afforded.

He said there needs to be accountability and transparency on the cyber charter side of things. "But we also need to have the realization that there are hundreds of thousands of students across Pennsylvania that are using this platform, and there's a reason for that," Topper said.

Schmitt said he understands how school superintendents and charter school leaders tend to be at odds often.

He said the state House and Senate play "legislative badminton" all the time, in which legislation moves back and forth between the Democratic House and the Republican Senate until it dies.

"I think (House Bill) 1422 is going to fall victim to that same process. I doubt that it ever becomes law," he said. "It's unfortunate we have a divided government now."

Mirror Staff Writer Matt Churella is at 814-946-7520.