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HARRISBURG -- For years, educators, parents and concerned taxpayers have questioned the mission of cyber charter schools.
Now, an education group is calling for a state audit of a popular cyber charter school based in Harrisburg. It comes after the group learned what some families are spending their money on with cash reimbursements.
Education Voters of Pennsylvania wants the auditor general to investigate Commonwealth Charter Academy, saying CCA isn't spending taxpayer money wisely.
This year, Commonwealth Charter Academy gave students a one-time $200 personal field trip reimbursement.
Facebook screenshots obtained by Education Voters of Pennsylvania show some families discussing using the money to take trips to Dave and Busters, amusement parks and even a Motley Crue concert.
According to Susan Spicka, executive director of Education Voters of Pennsylvania, CCA has more than 20,000 students.
"We are talking about a lot of money. It is unacceptable that while school districts are starving and property tax increases are squeezing home and business owners, cyber charter schools are so awash in excess funding that they're using property tax dollars to pay for students' private activities and trips and giving cash payments to families," Spicka said.
Several school administrators were on the Zoom call to talk about their experiences with cyber charter school funding.
One of those on the call was Donna Smith, a school board member in the Bellefonte Area School District.
"Cyber charter tuition has had a significantly negative impact on our students and our taxpayers," Smith said. "Try as we have to effect change, we have become increasingly frustrated with the chronic inaction and the apathy of many of those in our state legislature. But our district has not chosen to remain silent and passively watch more than $3 million that we have had to budget for charter school tuition walk out of our doors."
Smith, a former teacher, has been passionate about cyber charter school reform since joining the BASD board.
In Bellefonte, she said, taxpayers were required to spend $1.2 million on tuition payments for 59 students to attend the various cyber charters throughout the state. More alarming, she said, none of those cyber charters are headquartered in the Centre Region.
She also talked about the quality of education students attending cyber charter schools receive.
"Schools, that you all know, score in the very bottom of state-mandated tests with abysmal graduation rates to boot," Smith commented.
Smith would prefer that students in the Bellefonte Area School District take advantage of BeLA -- the district's own Bellefonte eLearning Academy, which provides an online learning option for Bellefonte Area School District students. Students attend from home or from another location outside of a traditional classroom setting. It is a unique program that combines a strong parent involvement component with a flexible learning environment for K-12 students.
"Our school district, conversely, could educate those 59 students at our own, highly-successful, in-house cyber school known as BeLA for about $360,000. That difference to us is $850,000 in a single year," Smith said.
Smith questioned where the money goes.
"What is happening with all of that excess money? Again, these schools … have no career and technical programs, no athletic fields, no coaches' salaries, no cafeterias, no auditoriums, no gyms, no roofs to repair like we do, no rooms to heat, no rooms to cool," Smith said matter-of-factly.
Also on the call was Jim Estep, the superintendent in the South Middleton School District. He said that he has always been an advocate of cyber charter school reform.
"I don't think there has been a year, since I stepped into this seat where I haven't very publicly and very vocally advocated for charter funding reform," Estep said.
He said that the situation at CCA is not surprising.
"To some degree, I don't blame them for trying to figure out ways to pass it on to the kids. But is that what we should be doing with taxpayer dollars? At the expense of the 500 regular public school districts," Estep said.
Mark Holtzman, the superintendent in the McKeesport School District near Pittsburgh, said that cyber charters are big part of his district's financial woes.
"We have an $81 million dollar budget that is ravaged by charter school tuition … we have a hard time meeting the needs of a unique population of children," Holtzman said. "The big picture is that we continue to give more and more money to cyber charters and it continues to deplete our fund balance."
He said that reform must happen soon so that traditional brick and mortar schools can continue to do their job.
"Charter schools are preying on urban schools and rural school districts that already have financial challenges," Holtzman said. "It's very unfortunate."
For more information about cyber charter school reform, visit edvoterspa.org.