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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
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CONTACT: Bill
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State Rep. Greg Vitali |
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Vitali introduces legislation to develop public cyber charter schools
Lawmaker says bill would provide more accountability, contain costs of cyber charter schools
HARRISBURG, June 27 – State Rep. Greg Vitali, D-Delaware, has introduced legislation that would enable school districts, intermediate units and vocational schools to establish their own public cyber charter schools.
Vitali said his measure (H.B. 1655) would provide an alternative to private cyber charter schools and reduce and regulate the ever-increasing amount of money school districts must pay to cyber charter schools. Current law requires school districts to provide funding to private cyber charter schools, which provide textbooks and educational services via the Internet to home-schooled and other students, based on a per-student formula and not based on the services provided to the students.
“The purpose of my bill is to permit schools and other educational entities to develop cyber charter schools so that they can have an option to obtain better accountability, contain costs and have an alternative to the current system,” Vitali said. “If a school establishes a public cyber charter school, under my proposal, they would not be required to pay out any money to a private company if a student elects to use their services rather then the ones provided by the district.”
Vitali said questions have recently been raised as to the cost effectiveness and efficiency of the 11 cyber charter schools currently operating across the Commonwealth. Auditor General Jack Wagner released a report calling for changes in funding in the overall charter school system after an audit showed significant overpayments by school districts to these companies. Vitali said cyber charter schools alone cost the state’s school districts a combined $74 million in taxpayer funding last year.
Locally, Vitali said the amount of money Haverford, Radnor and Marple school districts paid out to private cyber schools shows the need for a change in the way these entities are funded. For the 2006-07 school year, Haverford School District spent $317,000 and Radnor School District spent $63,300, for a total of $380,300 to private cyber charter schools. Marple School District’s figures for the most recent school year are not yet unavailable, but in 2005-06, it paid out more than $151,000.
“This is an excessive amount of money for school districts to be paying each year,” Vitali said.
In addition, Vitali said school districts are finding it difficult to hold cyber charter schools accountable for meeting educational standards and objectives. In fact, only two of the 11 cyber charter schools operating in Pennsylvania met the state’s educational progress standards last year.
Vitali said he plans to request public hearings on his legislation this summer to obtain public input and hear testimony from school districts across the Commonwealth.
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