Aug 26, 2013 3 min read

We have looked on the growth of cyber charter schools with a wary eye, and the announcement last week that Nicholas Trombetta, the founder of the Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School, has been indicted by federal authorities on fraud and tax-evasion charges has done nothing to increase our confidence.

Trombetta is accused of funneling more than $8 million in taxpayer dollars into his own pockets, snapping up a condominium, buying an airplane and taking $550,000 in kickbacks from a laptop-computer manufacturer in Virginia, among other misdeeds. Though Trombetta must be accorded every presumption of innocence, the allegations underscore the need for greater oversight of this burgeoning industry.

Because of the expansion of broadband Internet access over the last decade or so and the increased sophistication of interactive video technology, the idea that a student can sit in front of a computer, no matter where they are, and participate in a wide-ranging cyberclassroom has proved enticing to educators and investors. It has drawn thousands of students and millions of dollars. Proponents say online learning is ideal for students with special talents, behavioral issues or other challenges that keep them out of brick-and-mortar schools.

But there are questions that need to be answered about the quality of the education students receive from cyberschools and how the money that flows to them is being used. A national study released in June found the academic performance of charter schools in Pennsylvania was lagging behind that of its peers nationally, and it was cyber charter schools that were dragging the other charters down.

Moreover, school districts lose per-pupil funding when a student abandons the schoolhouse for a cyberclassroom. In March, Roberta DiLorenzo, the superintendent of Washington School District, reported that $1.9 million had been spent by the district to cover tuition for about 60 students to attend cyberschools over the last five years, with some dubious results to show for it. One student from Washington was reported to have had perfect attendance at a cyberschool for four years, while earning just seven credits in that time. The price tag? $36,000. That works out to about $5,100 per credit. Another student said she attached her computer mouse to an oscillating fan to show that she was “participating” when she was actually elsewhere. Some parents said they enrolled students in cyberschools solely to avoid fines for truancy.

DiLorenzo also said attempts to get information from the Midland-based Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School regarding attendance and progress reports were rebuffed. They want taxpayer dollars, it seems, but they are apparently less eager to account for how those dollars are spent.

Patte Barth, the director of the National School Board Association’s Center for Public Education, told The Christian Science Monitor last week that cyberschools “are being promoted as a less expensive way to provide public education and to customize education for individual students … but these opportunities are being expanded without sufficient monitoring mechanisms in place.”

It’s time to put them there. The Legislature has considered bills that would change the way cyberschools are being funded, set the bar higher on accountability and limit their growth. This may be too much to hope for given the inertia that has gripped Harrisburg on issues ranging from transportation to liquor privatization, but perhaps Trombetta’s indictment will prove to be the necessary prod for lawmakers to take action.