Op-Ed: Students will suffer under Wolf’s latest charter attack

Originally published in Broad + Liberty.

Like clockwork, Gov. Tom Wolf is once again attacking charter schools at the behest of his biggest campaign donor, the teachers’ unions. This time, despite his long history of extreme spending and proposed tax increases, he’s acting like a fiscal hawk.

In recent weeks, the governor has marched from school district to school district holding press conferences to promote his charter school funding reform plan that he claims will “save taxpayers $400 million.” But in reality, his plan does no such thing. It would actually cut funding for students who attend public charter schools and transfer it back to districts, even though the students no longer attend a district school. Taxpayers won’t see a dime. School districts will, instead, keep taxpayer dollars meant for students they aren’t teaching.

The crux of Wolf’s plan is to cut cyber charter funding down to a statewide rate of $9,500 per student. This comes after school districts have claimed for years that they can educate children remotely for just $5,000 per student. But…

Read more at Broad + Liberty.