Cyber Schools: Frequently Asked Questions

Hearings are being held across the state on legislation for limits on spending by public cyber schools The proposed legislation is a response to criticism that cyber schools are not accountable, do not serve students well, and are a drain on school districts, and receive more money than they “need”.

Q: Are cyber schools unaccountable?

A: No. Cyber schools must meet every public school accountability standard—and more.

Accountability standards for both school districts and cyber schools: Students take Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA); Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) reports; Child Accounting System, Electronic Dropout and Graduate Report, Elementary Secondary Public School Enrollments, Financial Accounting Information, Limited English Proficiency-District Level, Limited English Proficiency-School Level, Secondary Course Enrollment, Social Security Reimbursement, Support Personnel, Financial Audit, State Audit, Federal Audit, Annual Financial Reports, and General Fund Budget PDE 2028.
Accountability standards just for cyber schools: Cyber Charter School Renewal (every 3-5 years), Annual Charter School Report, and Pennsylvania System of Cyber Charter Renewal.
The highest accountability standard for cyber schools is parental choice. Unlike district assigned schools, cyber schools only receive funding when parents choose to send their children there; and with cyber schools, parents have the choice not only between a local school and a cyber school, but among all cyber schools serving the state.

Q: Are cyber schools underperforming?

A: No. Cyber schools serve hard-to-educate student and have strong academic results.

Cyber schools serve a higher percentage of children from low-income families and a disproportionate number of students come from low-performing districts.
Pennsylvania’s cyber schools met 46 out of 50 academic AYP targets in the 2005-2006 school year.

Q: Don’t cyber schools get too much funding?

A: No. Cyber schools get far less than school districts and spend it more appropriately.

Cyber schools receive, on average, less than 73% of what school districts spend, per-pupil. They receive only about 80% of what school districts spend, per-pupil, on instruction and student services alone.
Cyber schools get no funding for buildings and many other costs, and are able to better target spending to instruction.
School districts receive reimbursements for what they spend on cyber students, effectively keeping almost 50% of their per-pupil funding for a child they no longer educate.
School districts spend 11 times the total cost of cyber schools on construction and debt alone.
School districts’ construction spending more than doubled from 1996-97 to 2006-06. Instructional spending increased only 51% in this time.
School districts with more revenue available spend ahigher percentage of their funding on construction and a lower percentage on instruction.

Q: Don’t cyber schools drive up property taxes?

A: No. Cyber schools save taxpayers money.

Cyber school funding represents less than 1% of all expenditures for public schools.
Spending only $8,300 per-pupil, vs. the $11,500 per-pupil average in school districts, cyber schools saved taxpayers more than $146 million in 2005-06.

Click here for a printable version of Cyber Schools: Frequently Asked Questions.

Click here for the 20-page report Edifice Complex: Where Has All the Money Gone?

For more information about Cyber Schools, visit
www.CommonwealthFoundation.org or call 717.671.1901.

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The Commonwealth Foundation is an independent, non-profit public policy research and educational institute based in Harrisburg, PA.