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DECEMBER 13, 2011 | Policy Points by COMMONWEALTH FOUNDATION
Charter School Reform
Pennsylvania charter school enrollment grew from 982 students in 1997 to 91,000 in 2010, as more parents exercised choice in their children's education. On average, charter schools receive and spend only about 83 percent of what school districts spend for each student. Allowing alternative charter school authorizers would increase opportunities
OCTOBER 10, 2011 | Policy Points by COMMONWEALTH FOUNDATION
Charter School Funding in Pennsylvania
Many school districts and other advocates complain about the charter school funding mechanism, arguing that it "drains funding" from school districts. This charge must be considered in the context of charter school funding.
OCTOBER 10, 2011 | Policy Report by PRIYA ABRAHAM, NATHAN BENEFIELD
The Learning Revolution
How Cyber Schools and Blended Learning Transform Students' Lives
Online learning serves a significant and growing number of students, and represents a significant shift in how we educate Pennsylvania's children. In light of the growth of cyber and hybrid schools and the debate over their accountability, this Report seeks to help Pennsylvania residents understand more about cyber charter schools, who
Recent Blog Posts
MARCH 16, 2012
It's Good to be the King (of Charter Schools)
We blogged last month about HB 1973, a bill that would gut funding for cyber schools. Now it turns out there's a bill—recently introduced to the House Education Committee—that goes even further: It would amend public school law and impose more damaging, needless regulation on all charter schools.
Perhaps the most bizarre proposed change is one found on page 2, dealing with how appeal boards review local boards' decisions to issue or deny a charter (the original language is in brackets; the proposed language is underlined):
The appeal board shall [give due consideration to the findings of the local board of directors] use an arbitrary and capricious standard to review the decision of the local board of school directors.
An "arbitrary and capricious standard"? Seriously? Are we in pre-Revolutionary France?
Read the rest of HB 2220, however, and "arbitrary and capricious" fittingly describes the proposed changes. Like HB 1973, the bill limits schools' fund balances, the reserves they accumulate to meet operating expenses and which cover lags in funding, to a maximum of 12 percent of spending. Some lawmakers think this will make charters more like school districts—only they have been duped by an education establishment myth. As of July 2010, 143 school districts had undesignated fund balances exceeding that threshold. The only limit on school district funds is tied to new borrowing. Collectively, school districts had $2.8 billion in reserved funds following the 2009-10 school year.
The bill also outlaws advertising, though cyber and charter schools need to let communities know they exist. Such measures would cover all charter schools, not just cybers. And school districts face no such restriction.
Additionally, school districts would not have to pay cyber schools for "resident students" who attend them if the school districts offer cyber programs. That limits families' ability to use public education dollars at the school of their choice, forcing them into their school district's program if they want a cyber education at all. This bill effectively says that rather than funding children's education, tax dollars should be used to protect the status quo.
We've reported before how cyber and charter schools must meet accountability standards required of regular public schools, plus more. Overall, HB 2220 seeks to hamstring charter and cyber schools and diminish school choice, ensuring traditional public schools not only stay on top of Pennsylvania's education system, but rule over publicly funded charter schools, too. But hey—it's good to be the king.
posted by PRIYA ABRAHAM | 10:00 AM | 0 comment
FEBRUARY 15, 2012
Attacking Cyber School Funding
The House Education Committee held an informational hearing today with administrators from several of Pennsylvania's cyber schools. The school officials mainly addressed myths about cyber school funding and performance, in light of a new bill introduced by Rep. Michael Fleck in December, HB 1973. One testifier described the bill as "a wolf in sheep's clothing, purporting to reform charter operations with the true intent of killing cyber charter schools."
Why such strong language? Cyber schools are public, taxpayer-funded online schools that began a decade ago. They offer parents an alternative to their local brick-and-mortar public school, without the cost of a private education. And they are proving immensely popular, with nearly 28,000 students enrolled today. When a student leaves her school district for a cyber school, public funding—76 percent of the per-student cost, on average—follows the child. Faced with a loss of funding—though it is a minuscule 1 percent of public education spending—school districts are crying foul, and demanding that lawmakers "fix" how cyber schools are funded.
The main funding element of HB 1973 is a restriction: It would mandate that cyber schools keep their "fund balances" —essentially the school's reserves—at 8-12 percent of their budgeted expenditures. Lawrence Jones, President of the Pennsylvania Coalition of Public Charter Schools, explained why this is a problem:
Half of the 400 school districts refuse to pay for their students enrolled in cyber charter schools, forcing cybers into the four-month long redirection process and often into procurement of loans to cover operating costs...Cyber charters need to retain a fund balance so that taxpayer dollars that currently go to lending institutions and attorneys can instead be used to educate children. Imagine what it would be like to run the government if half of Pennsylvania's taxpayers simply refused to pay their taxes and there were absolutely no recourse to force them to do so.
So, yes: Cyber school officials agree that funding for their schools needs fixing and should be more equitable. But there is no one-size-fits-all "actual instruction expense" for every cyber school. Furthermore, questions such as "How much does it really cost to educate a child?" could equally be asked of a traditional public school.
In reality, having a competitive education marketplace in the form of charter, cyber, private and public schools is what keeps costs down and learning effective. Burdening cyber schools with needless regulation serves only to smother the innovation our public education system so desperately needs. In the end, public education funding should serve children, not a system.
posted by PRIYA ABRAHAM | 04:49 PM | 0 comment
FEBRUARY 1, 2012
Happy Digital Learning Day
Today is national Digital Learning Day, during which groups across the country will commemorate how technology is changing education for the better. So what exactly IS digital learning?
Digital learning occurs when students use online programs—guided by teachers—to learn math, science, English and every other subject they would study in a regular classroom. Most importantly, it allows students to control the pace and location of their study, meaning they can learn as slowly or as quickly as they need. We tracked the trend in Commonwealth Foundation's latest report on digital learning, The Learning Revolution.
In Pennsylvania, digital learning has exploded in popularity, with nearly 28,000 children now enrolled in cyber schools (from zero when they began about 10 years ago). Children learn at home but are in constant contact with their teachers, and also participate in "real-life" sports and arts programs. The flexibility especially helps students who are sick, have demanding sports or performing arts schedules, are gifted, or who are struggling academically. Take 14-year-old Caela, from Lake Ariel, Pa., for whom cyber school has been a lifesaver:
Between kindergarten and sixth grade she was hospitalized 16 times from bronchitis, pneumonia, allergies and asthma. In fifth grade, she missed 83 days of school; in sixth, 67. In 2010, Caela enrolled in Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School and completed a full year's worth of English and science courses in just five months.
Best of all, her mother says, Caela is off all her medications and has not been sick since starting cyber school. Thanks to digital learning, students like Caela don't have to give up good schooling, and having online tools that help teachers adapt means we can tailor education to every student's needs.
posted by PRIYA ABRAHAM | 00:11 PM | 0 comment
