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LOCK HAVEN -- During the Clinton County Board of Commissioners voting session this week, Commissioner Jeff Snyder read a statement encouraging Gov. Josh Shapiro to heed advice from Auditor General Tim DeFoor about cyber charter reform within the Commonwealth.
Snyder noted he served on the school board for many years.
"I care about the quality of education that our children receive. But I also care about the amount of taxes that our residents pay to the school district," he said.
In June, Keystone Central School District's current board of directors will consider adopting a 1.78 percent tax increase with its 2025-2026 budget in an effort to close a deficit.
Snyder said there are many residents within Clinton County who do not have children or grandchildren within the school district that take on the burden of increased taxation.
He said Gov. Josh Shapiro, in a visit to Scranton, announced there would be $2 billion of new funding invested in K-12 education. However, he is encouraging the governor to instead look to cyber charter reform.
"I'd like to ask the governor and legislators that -- before they increase the tax burden on the residents of the Commonwealth -- they look into the request of Auditor General Tim DeFoor," he said.
DeFoor is one of three auditor generals that have called up legislators to review the cyber charter formula to try and bring money back to public school districts.
"(The formulas) allow cyber charter schools to legally increase their revenues as (they) do not account for cost of tuition, set guidelines for spending or set limits for charter school reserve funds," Snyder said.
He further noted there are over 1,000 different funding formulas for cyber charter schools.
"Millions of dollars could be redirected to lessen the burden on our tax payers," Snyder said. "This issue must be addressed.
Snyder emphasized he is for school choice, but said the formula needs to be re-evaluated.
"Instead of increasing taxes -- which is always the easiest road to take -- let's please, Gov. Shapiro and legislators, look at this funding formula and redirect dollars back to the public schools that they come from to lessen the tax burden," he concluded.
Talks about charter school reform are an ongoing issue both state-wide and right here in Clinton County.
In early budget discussions at KCSD, the district's Business Manager, Joni MacIntyre, spoke at length about how cyber charters have created burdens on the district and its budget.
In a budget presentation made in March to the school board, MacIntyre presented information from DeFoor's own audit of cyber charters.
The audit was conducted through information gathered between July 1, 2020 and June 30, 2023, where DeFoor's staff focused on three things: revenues, expenses and fund balances.
At the time, MacIntyre told the school board about the lack of restrictions and broke down how expenditures in the audit could have an effect on KCSD.
Specifically, she spoke about Commonwealth Charter Academy, PA Cyber Academy and Reach Cyber Charter, all of which students from within KCSD attend.
For Commonwealth Charter -- which has the highest number of KCSD students -- expenditures found in the audit included $22 million for employee bonuses; $2 million in fuel stipends and $1 million on vehicle fleet.
PA Charter's expenses included $1.4 million in bonuses and saw its fund balance increase by $110 million over time.
Reach Cyber's expenses included $7 million in employee bonuses; $4.2 million in gift card purchases for families for rent, utilities and even horse lessons.
Some of the cyber charters even spent $404,000 on entertainment such as trips to Hershey Park and Sky Zone.
MacIntyre read a specific quote from DeFoor's office which said, "Auditor General Tim DeFoor has made it clear that cyber charters are being paid more than they need to educate students and are spending tax dollars in ways that would be unacceptable for a school district. They are not being held to the same standards as school districts."
"Cybers allow students to avoid accountability for truancy. There are no boards, there's no one helping guide them," she said. "This really is an eye opener and should really let you know, this is how cyber charters are spending their money. I'm sure there are student expenses but a large portion of them are not."