Lancaster Intelligencer Journal 12-06-07

Bill Would Limit Cybercharter Schools

By BRIAN WALLACE, Staff
Dec 06, 2007 1:12 AM EST

HARRISBURG, Pa. - A state House committee has approved legislation that would establish a statewide cybercharter school tuition and impose new restrictions on how the online schools operate.

The House Education Committee Wednesday approved House Bill 446, which deals with the concerns of public school officials who have complained for years about the high cost of cybercharter school tuition.

Districts pay cybercharter school tuition equal to their average annual per-pupil cost.

The bill, first proposed nearly a year ago, now heads to the full House for consideration.

HB 446 would establish an annual tuition rate of about $6,500 beginning in 2008-09 and would limit cybercharter school fund balances to 12 percent or less of the schools' operating budgets.

The legislation also would give the state Department of Education increased oversight of the schools and their teachers and force cybercharter schools to follow the same budgeting requirements as traditional public schools.

"It's definitely a step forward, no question about that," Robert Frick, Lampeter-Strasburg School district superintendent, said of the legislation.

"Some control (over cybercharter schools) is better than none, and I think none is where we were previously — or very little anyway."

Proponents of cybercharter schools say the bill is designed to drive the schools out of business. Cybercharter schools enroll a large number of homeschooled students and pupils who have failed in traditional public schools.

"Pennsylvania is a leader in education choice, and a bill like this is a step backwards," Joe Lyons, spokesman for Pennsylvania Virtual Charter School, said.

"If we're not funded properly, and you take away our teachers, we're not going to be able to operate."

Lyons said the most objectionable provision of the bill would give the Department of Education the discretion to determine whether cybercharter school teaching experience qualifies a teacher for advanced certification.

Currently, cybercharter teachers earn credit toward certification for their experience, just as teachers in traditional public schools do.

"That means the Department of Education can determine that we're not a school," Lyons said. "They're insulting our teachers, and they're not really giving them an incentive to stay with us."

HB 446 would establish a "real cost" of cyberschool tuition based on the lowest average per-pupil expenditures of cybercharter schools that achieved PSSA academic standards in 2006-07.

That figure is not yet available, but in 2005-06, it was slightly more than $5,800, Chris Wakely, executive director of the House Education Committee, said.

Wakely said he expects the per-pupil cost for 2006-07 to be about $6,500.

School districts across the state, no matter how much they spend to educate their own pupils, would pay that amount for each student enrolled in a cybercharter school.

An earlier version of HB 446 would have made the state, not school districts, pay cybercharter school tuition, but that provision was struck from the amended bill approved Wednesday.

Special-education costs also would be based on the lowest per-pupil average costs for 2006-07 for high-achieving cybercharter schools.

That average cost would then be added to the base tuition for special-education students.

Cybercharter schools would have the option of being paid based on the current formula, minus the cost of transportation services, building construction and other costs not incurred by online schools.

Tuition would be increased each year based on the inflationary index set by the state under Act 1.

For 2008-09, the base index — the amount by which school districts may increase taxes — is 4.4 percent.

Currently, Lancaster County districts pay cybercharter school tuition ranging from about $8,500 to $13,500 per pupil. The state then reimburses them about 25 percent of that total.

For special-education students, districts also currently pay their average per-pupil cost, which can be twice as high as the average cost for other students.

School districts in Lancaster County are expected to spend more than $6.5 million this year on cybercharter school tuition.

Statewide, 11 cybercharter schools enroll about 20,000 students, a number that has grown rapidly in recent years.

As enrollments have grown, public school officials have complained more loudly about tuition rates they consider excessive, given that cybercharter schools lack school buildings, buses, cafeterias and other expensive services of traditional schools.

Officials also have complained that cyber schools have amassed fund balances averaging 26 percent, while schools are limited to reserve funds of 12 percent.

House Bill 446 would cap cyber school fund balances at 8 percent to 12 percent, based on a school's annual budget.

Schools that exceed that amount could use up to $1 million for professional development and school improvements. The remainder would have to be reimbursed to school districts. The legislation also would empower the Department of Education to regulate the number of hours of instruction cybercharter school students must complete to meet attendance requirements.

Lyons complained that many of the provisions in the final version of the bill were added without input from cybercharter school educators or students.

E-mail: bwallace@lnpnews.com