Cyber charters need funding
If you’re going to make an argument, particularly one that will be scrutinized by the undoubtedly discerning readers of the Observer-Reporter, it’s helpful to get your facts right. At the heart of a recent editorial, you state that “Right now, a cyber charter receives the full amount it costs to educate a student within the student’s home district.” That’s incorrect.
In reality, cyber charter schools receive about 80 percent of the amount it costs to educate a student within the student’s home district. On top of that, cyber charter schools must live within their funding total because, unlike traditional school districts, they cannot raise local taxes.
Like traditional schools, however, cyber charter schools maintain buildings from which their teachers and administrators carry out the work of educating their students. Your editorial suggests we have no use for funding designated for building maintenance, as though we operate out of virtual space. No, we too pay property taxes, utility expenses and mortgages.
Like traditional schools, we also have a need for reserve funds. Akin to a savings account, this fund never provided a greater purpose than it does now, in the midst of this unprecedented, unresolved budget crisis. Were it not for these funds, taxpayers would be footing a much larger bill for the borrowing expenses of districts and charters who desperately need money to carry out their constitutional duty to educate the commonwealth’s children.
We agree there are fundamental problems with school funding, the likes of which we will not solve by simply slashing funding. Instead, we believe policymakers should proceed with the formation of a commission to study and make recommendations on how to achieve a fair and equitable funding formula for all Pennsylvania public school students.
We need an approach that won’t pit one educational choice against another, one that won’t disrupt the public education of the 40,000 students attending cyber charter schools in Pennsylvania.
Our school has a long record of supporting legislative initiatives that would strengthen accountability and transparency for charter schools, thereby making it harder for a few bad charter schools to ruin the reputation of the many that are operating with high standards. In fact, we have imposed stricter guidelines on ourselves over the past several years, on top of passing numerous local, state and federal inspections of our academic, financial and operational performance.
Michael J. Conti
Midland
Conti is the CEO of the Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School.