Pa. cyber charter funding remains steady as legislators emphasize student well-being
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Funding for cyber charter schools will remain steady this year, even as Pennsylvania's newest school code refines and builds on existing reform policies aimed at keeping students safe and holding cyber schools accountable.
Last year's budget enacted sweeping funding cuts and cyber charter policy reforms, resulting in a $238 million funding loss across the commonwealth's 14 public cyber charters. Gov. Josh Shapiro initially proposed another $75 million reduction in his February budget address, which school leaders said could cause extensive financial damage to their institutions, including staff layoffs and program cuts.
Now, they say they're grateful legislators listened to their concerns and managed to keep funding consistent.
"I believe when our community comes together, it works," said Erin Van Guilder, CEO of Insight PA Charter School. "We were able to kind of fight off those devastating proposed funding reductions."
Rep. Peter Schweyer (D-Lehigh), who chairs the House Education Committee, said lawmakers fielded concerns from schools after previous cuts.
"What we had heard was that we needed an extra year or two to sort of settle down and sort of see what those impacts from last year's budget cycle and those financial changes would be," he said.
Pennsylvania school districts pay cyber students' tuition directly to cyber charters, meaning a cyber charter's funding is tied directly to its enrollment rates. Tuition rates vary between districts and if a student requires special education.
Prioritizing
student safety
The school code now mandates wellness checks for cyber students, requiring them to appear on camera and communicate with a teacher, administrator, or school district representative once a week.
That policy stems from legislation introduced by Schweyer, which passed the House Education Committee after heated debate last month.
He said the mandatory wellness checks are one of the most important pieces of the new budget year's school code.
If a student does not complete their wellness check without a documented excuse, school districts must notify parents and guardians within one day. If it still has not been completed three days later, districts must schedule a "wellness review conference" to ensure a student's safety and future participation in wellness checks.
If that conference does not occur, districts must conduct in-person home visits within 24 hours.
"If we do nothing else but make sure that students, no matter where they are learning, are learning in a safe and healthy environment, then we've done really good work," Schweyer said. "We're going to put [cyber students] in a healthier environment. We're going to make sure we're going to have a better chance to catch a child who is, you know, suffering in some way."
Refining existing policies
The school code also refines two policies that were overhauled last year, which prompted backlash from cyber charter leaders and Republican lawmakers.
When the legislature approved the last budget to end a months-long impasse in November, it required families with students enrolled in cyber charters to provide proof of residency twice a year. Administrators said this prompted unnecessary confusion and burdens for families.
It also "could create bottlenecks by delaying tuition reimbursement payments to public cyber schools while paperwork is pending," Rep. Joe D'Orsie (R-York) wrote in a statement. He also previously expressed concerns about a lack of protections for students experiencing homelessness in the existing residency verification rules.
This school code reduces the residency verification requirement to once a year, aligning with requirements for traditional brick-and-mortar public schools. D'Orsie said lawmakers have been "working to create parity between public schools," no matter what method of learning families choose.
The updated code also allows families experiencing homelessness or otherwise unstable living conditions exemptions from providing continuous proof of residency.
"I'm always a big proponent of making sure we have additional protections for that delicate population," Van Guilder said.
The existing habitual truancy policy, which dictated that students who accumulate at least six unexcused absences and are deemed habitually truant could not transfer to cyber charters midyear without a judge's approval, also prompted complaints from leaders and lawmakers. They said it limited families' access to school choice.
The policy remains in place in the updated school code, including a provision that cyber charters who still enroll habitually truant students will not receive tuition payments from districts for those students.
The code also refines the judicial aspect of the policy, setting clear timelines for "educational best interest hearings" to determine if a student can transfer.
In-person hearings must be held within 10 days of a truancy citation and include a representative from the student's current school, a parent or legal guardian who shares a home with the student, and the student themselves if they are 15 or older.
"That really prevents families from waiting for months for hearings so that students can be in classes and learning," Van Guilder said.
The judge must consider a student's academic performance, safety, disciplinary history, chances of success, and family support when deciding if they may transfer to a cyber charter, according to the code.
Van Guilder said even with the refinements, the habitual truancy policy still restricts school choice.
"That's something that we will continue to work with our legislators to better understand," she said.
Schweyer said members of both parties are "extremely frustrated with residency and truancy concerns" from cyber charters.
"Finding language is really difficult in those cases," he said. "Trying to really craft a legislative solution has sort of vexed us a little bit. So ... we tinkered a little bit in this budget. We'll continue to reevaluate and try to get there."
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Emily Scolnick is a 2026 Dow Jones News Fund intern at the Pennsylvania Capital-Star.
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