Superintendents Issue Statement Against Charter Schools

The following news release was issued Dec. 2 by 26 superintendents from school districts in Lehigh, Northampton, Carbon, Monroe and Pike counties.

Press Release—December 2, 2011
Senate Bill 1—School Vouchers

The right of parents to choose their schools is good for Pennsylvania families especially where local schools are not serving the needs of their children. However, using vouchers to fund private schools or to funnel public school dollars away from local schools to fund is fundamentally wrong and inequitable. According to a recent survey of 800 likely voters by Susquehanna Polling and Research, "increasing state funding for and improving education"
should be state lawmakers' priority. More than two-thirds of survey respondents said they opposed using taxpayer money to pay for tuition for students to attend parochial or private schools. Local schools are mandated to play by different rules than charters and private schools and private schools are subjected to far less government oversight and unfunded mandates.

Out of all the school choice options currently available, cyber charter schools—where students attend school “online” or virtually—are funded using the most inequitable and deficient funding formula. Every public school in Pennsylvania is state mandated to automatically transfer its full average daily membership (otherwise known as ADM or “cost per pupil”) when a resident student transfers from the public school to the cyber charter school. A school district’s ADM is
comprised of all operating costs to include facilities, utilities/energy costs, and transportation costs, all of which do not exist within cyber charter schools.

Furthermore, the data we have assembled clearly shows that students who attend cyber schools perform well below their local school counterparts.

Every dollar that is channeled away from our local schools to fund private, parochial and charter schools leaves local school districts with fewer dollars to operate. are the very schools that our communities depend upon to provide children with a comprehensive, quality education and rich learning experience. These increased diminishing resources result in program cuts, limited course offerings, larger class sizes, and compromised arts, music and athletic programs.

Clearly our concern for is about the role it will play in the demise of Pennsylvania public schools. However, our concern for the funding formula for cyber charter education is even more peaked. We believe that our legislators know the cyber charter school funding formula is defective, yet it remains uncorrected. As SB 1 moves to the House for a vote, it is important that
voters understand what is being considered here. The issue now is less about school choice and more about establishing a fair and equitable funding formula for cyber charter schools and to once and for all, level the playing field.

Submitted by the School District Superintendents of Carbon, Lehigh, Monroe, Northampton, and Pike Counties.