Politics & Government

Pennsylvania Auditor General Calls for Revamping of Charter School Funding

Education vouchers and charter school funding were the top issues discussed at Thursday night's roundtable discussion at William Tennent High School.

Pennsylvania school districts pay too much money to send students to charter and cyber charter schools, said Auditor General Jack Wagner to parents and representatives from all 13 Bucks County school districts who gathered Thursday night at for a forum about public school funding.

"The formula used to calculate how much money the sending district gives to the charter schools is wrong and needs to be readjusted to reflect the true cost to educate a child," said Wagner. "There is a serious inequity."

According to a report published last year and handed out by the auditor general's office, Pennsylvaia authorized charter and cyber charter schools in 1997 and 2002, respectively, as alternative public school options to local school districts. If parents decide to send their child to a charter school, the school district must reimburse the charter school the cost for educating that child in the home district.

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Wagner said the formula should instead reflect the cost for the charter school itself to educate the child, which is much lower than the sending district's number.

"The average cost for a charter school student's education is $5,000," said Wagner. "Districts on average pay about $10,000. Whenever you hear an ad on the radio for a charter school, that's your extra taxpayer money at work."

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Under the current formula, Wagner's report states, all 500 school districts within Pennsylvania pay a different tuition rate for their students that leave the district to attend a charter school. In many cases, the same charter school may be receving different amounts of reimbursement for attending students.

The report gives an example of Propel Charter School-Homestead in Allegheny County, which received $11,337.43 per student from Clairton City School District and $7,201.27 per student from East Allegheny School District.

Before leaving for the evening, Wagner took some questions from the audience, including one from Heather Humienny, president of the board of trustees for the Center for Student Learning charter school in Pennsbury School District.

"I resent that one side is being presented here tonight," Humienny told Wagner. "We take in at-risk students from the school district that are not performing in the classroom. Last year we graduated 27 students, and we have been audited by numerous agencies."

Wagner quickly responded by affirming his support for the services charter schools provide and clarifying that this is purely a funding issue.

"It is my job to make sure we are being as fiscally responsible with taxpayer money as possible," Wagner said.

After Wagner left the forum, Director of Business Operations Jack Myers presented more areas where he thought the charter school funding formula needs revising, such as the inclusion of special education costs.

"When we spend more than $200,000 for the extraordinary education costs for one student, that gets put into the formula," Myers said. "There is something seriously wrong with this formula."

The two-and-a-half hour meeting was organized by the Pennsylvania School Board Association (PSBA) to alert stakeholders about charter school funding and the passage of SB1 by the Pennsylvania Senate, which provides the groundwork for school vouchers and forms a Charter School Funding Advisory Committee.

"That means it will be at least two more years of inequities," said Myers. "One year to study the funding and another year to enact legislation. Governor Corbett doesnlt want to address it now because he thinks it will undercut the work of the proposed committee."

During the roundtable discussion that followed the presentations, State Representative Paul Clymer (R-145th district), who chairs the house education committee, pledged to invite the auditor general to testify when SB1 is brought before his committee.

"That action right there makes this evening a success," said Mark Miller, Centennial school board member and recently elected vice president of the PSBA. "We've made a positive impact by opening that channel of communication."

The panel, moderated by Katharine Pinneo from the Bucks County League of Women Voters, also featured State Representative Bernie O'Neill (R-29th district) who is also on the education committee, Larry Feinberg, member of the Haverford District school board in Delaware County, and Susan Gobreski, executive director of Education Voters of Pennsylvania.

The topic of discussion quickly moved on to the issue of school vouchers. According to the bill's sponsor, state Senator Jeffrey Piccola, the proposal in SB1 is to form a pilot voucher program by taking the 17 worst performing school districts in the state and providing vouchers to send 5 percent of the students to a private school.

Feinberg said that Governor Tom Corbett's $900 million cut to public education already hurt these struggling schools, and taking away more money will only add to their problems.

"We need to look at what these charter and private schools are doing and apply those best practices to the public schools," said Feinberg. "In order to do that, we need to be properly funded. I consistently hear safety as the number one reason to send a child to a private school. We shouldn't be removing money that could pay for school safety officers and making the public schools less safe."

O'Neill also pointed out that the ability for charter schools and private schools to limit class sizes and deny enrollment gives them an unfair advantage over the public system. 

"Someone once told me how much their child improved when he went to a charter school," said O'Neill, a former public school teacher. "When I asked him how many kids were in the class, he said, 'seven.' Give me seven kids in a public school classroom and I'll get you the same result."

Gobreski stressed to the parents attending the forum the importance of contacting their representatives about the bill and staying involved and informed. It was a message that parent and Upper Southampton resident Christine Bailey Alff.

"I am alarmed about this alleged inequity," said Alff. "I'm going to look into this more and get on the horn. One child's education should not be at the expense of the rest of the district."


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