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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
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
NOVEMBER 18, 2011
Our Villainous Plan to Let Parents Choose the Best School for Their Children
If you weren't aware, Commonwealth Foundation is a sinister cog in a powerful underground organization of folks who support online learning. An article from The Nation bemoans conservative and libertarian villains behind the horrific effort to, uh, give families school choice. They point to the traditional bogey-men of the American Legislative Exchange Council, the Koch brothers, and the State Policy Network for organizing a conspiracy to promote more digital learning.
A sample paragraph from "How Online Learning Companies Bought America's Schools":
SPN has faced accusations before that it is little more than a coin-operated front for corporations. For instance, SPN and its affiliates receive money from polluters, including infamous petrochemical giant Koch Industries, allegedly in exchange for aggressive promotion of climate denial theories. But SPN's conference had less to do with policy than with tactics. Kyle Olson, a Republican operative infamous in Michigan and other states for his confrontational attacks on unionized teachers, gave a presentation on labor reform in K-12 education.
The article contains lots of innuendo and conspiracy theories—like the fact that some education reformers have met with (gasp!) Republicans. As for explaining why hundreds of thousands of parents are choosing online learing for their children, well...it's down to evil, greed, conspiracy, corporations, conferences, or something like that.
Now I must return to stroking my desultory white cat with a jeweled hand.
posted by PRIYA ABRAHAM | 03:19 PM | 0 comment
OCTOBER 19, 2011
School Choice Saves Kids, Taxpayers $4 Billion
Critics of expanding school choice in Pennsylvania often claim it will "cost too much" or drain precious resources. But in fact, school choice already saves Pennsylvania taxpayers more than $4 billion every year—more than $1,300 for every family of four.
In 2009-10, Pennsylvania school districts spent $14,300 per student. In comparison, public charter schools spent about $2,400 less per student, on average (and cyber schools more than $3,300 less), as documented in our recent policy points on charter school funding.
Private and nonpublic schools—which benefit from more than $200 million in state aid for student textbooks, transportation, and special needs students—enroll close to 300,000 students. About 40,000 of these students receive scholarships through the Educational Improvement Tax Credit, with the average scholarship amount being around $1,000. Even counting the the tax credit for private donations to scholarship organizations as a "cost" to taxpayers, private school choice saves more than $12,000 per child leaving a school district.
Homeschool students receive no taxpayer subsidy, saving taxpayers $14,300 for each of 22,000 homeschoolers. Even the proposed voucher program—less than half the amount, per student, of district spending—would represent significant savings for taxpayers.
If the 380,000 students attending schools of choice returned to district schools, at current spending levels, taxpayer costs for education would rise by $4.3 billion.
| Total Taxpayer Savings from Students Attending Schools of Choice | |||
| 2009-10 School Year | |||
| Savings Per Student* | Number of Students** | Total Savings | |
| Private and Nonpublic | $13,279 | 287,092 | $3,812,403,692 |
| EITC Scholarship Students | $12,235 | 38,646 | $472,848,486 |
| Home School | $14,301 | 22,000 | $314,622,000 |
| Public Charter (Total) | $2,367 | 73,054 | $172,903,936 |
| Cyber Charter | $3,366 | 20,406 | $68,685,860 |
| Total | 382,146 | $4,299,929,628 | |
| * Includes All state funding for nonpublic schools plus tax credits for EITC scholarships as cost; homeschooling enrollment estimated based on 2007-08 data | |||
| Sources: PA Department of Education, Summaries of Annual Financial Report Data; Public School Enrollment Reports, http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/data_and_statistics/7202 | |||
posted by NATHAN BENEFIELD | 02:46 PM | 0 comment
