A bill that could potentially remake Pennsylvania’s system of cyber education was the topic of a public hearing last week in the House Education Committee, and it galvanized reactions from both proponents and critics alike.
In effect, the bill, proposed by state Rep. Curt Sonney, R-Erie, would shutter all cyber charters in the commonwealth by the 2020-2021 school year. Also, all traditional school districts would be required to offer their own, full-time virtual education programs.
"Cyber education is an important choice parents should be able to make for their children, but local accountability to our taxpayers and students is imperative," said Sonney, chairman of the committee. "It should be about quality, not quantity."
Pennsylvania's cyber charter system is among the largest in the nation, serving more than 24,000 students statewide, according to Jennifer Beagan of the Allegheny County Intermediate Unit, a regional educational agency.
The proposal could result in the removal of thousands of students from 14 state-sanctioned, privately run and publicly funded cyber schools, sending them to virtual programs run by their home school districts.
At the hearing, Sonney said he introduced the legislation due to "concerns from constituents related to the cost and accountability of cyber charter schools."
Eric Eschbach, superintendent of the Northern York County School District and a proponent of Sonney's bill, said it would “bring greater accountability and efficiency to cyber-learning options without sacrificing choice options for students.”
But opponents of the bill noted that families opt for cyber programs for a variety of reasons, from issues related to bullying, distance from a local school district or health-related reasons and that making those families go back to their districts could cause problems.
“They have an issue with the school district,” Rep. Josh Kail, R-Beaver, said. “And so now we’re going to be forcing them to go back to the school district that they left in the first place.”
The hearing also highlighted tensions between the commonwealth's cyber education sector and school district administrators.
Administrators have questioned cyber charters' overall effectiveness in teaching students on par with traditional education, in addition to issues related to financial accountability.
Funding for cyber charter schools is drawn from districts, which must pay per-pupil fees every time a student opts for a cyber charter school, and some administrators say the expansion of cyber charters has caused significant fiscal damage to traditional schools.
In 2017-18, school districts spent nearly a billion dollars on cyber-charter tuition payments. And superintendents have complained that when comparing the value of a cyber education to a traditional one, that money is not well spent.
A 2018 survey conducted by the Pennsylvania Association of School Administrators showed that out of 172 school districts contacted, 152 said they were running a local cyber school.
John Chandler, CEO of PA Virtual Charter School, implored educators and partners at the meeting to embrace a spirit of cooperation.
"We can get much farther working together than fighting each other," he said. He asked that cyber charters be allowed to "share in the processes" that traditional schools participate in.
Chandler also said he was opposed to the bill since it would "eliminate independently-run, statewide cyber schools from an already short list of publicly funded options."
Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School CEO Brian Hayden went even further in his opposition to the bill, telling the House Education Committee not to "treat our students as second-class citizens. And, I want to repeat that part. Do not treat our students as second-class citizens.”
Hayden added that he welcomed "meaningful discussions on funding, but they must be transparent, fair, based on fact not misperceptions."
State Rep. Josh Kail, R-Beaver, said that although cyber funding reform is needed, he questioned the bill's potential to create a monopoly on cyber education for school districts. He also expressed concerns about limiting options left to students who would be forced to leave cyber charter schools for district-based virtual programs.
“I fail to see how taking choices away from parents in this instance is a good idea,” he said.
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