House Bill could change funding for Central Pennsylvania school districts

BLAIR COUNTY, Pa. (WTAJ) — In the past two years, there’s been an increase in the amount of students who attend cyber charter schools. According to Children First PA , Pennsylvania is considered the Cyber Charter Capital of the nation.

WTAJ looked at the enrollment numbers for a few schools.

For the 2022-23 school year, Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School had a total of 9,856 students enrolled. The following year, attendance increased by 5% to 10,379 students. Commonwealth Charter Academy saw a 15% increase in students over the past year, as their attendance jumped by 3,000. The Altoona Area School District saw a decline in enrollment by almost three percent, according to the Department of Education.

“It’s becoming a more popular option. You have to understand, and particularly in rural areas, so we don’t have as many private school options as perhaps in the suburbs or in some of the urban environments. So cyber charters become one of the few alternatives to a traditional public education setting for families who maybe their students just simply don’t feel like they’re as comfortable or fit in as well, or are looking for a different sort of education for their kids,” Representative Jesse Topper for the 78th District said.

So how are they funded and where is that money coming from? Representative Topper said that when the initial cyber charter and charter law was put into place, the state never anticipated so many students logging out to learn.

“Well, now, as we’ve seen so many students matriculate towards cyber charters, that formula needs to be redone. And that’s what we did in the budget this year. On the special education side, we made some changes that will result in savings for the traditional K through 12 public school districts, but we’ll also keep cyber as a viable option. So I thought it was a good first step to kind of taking the toxic competition out of it between these two forms of public education,” Topper said.

The changes to the charter law could result in up to $160 million in savings for school districts between the reimbursement formula and the special education formula reform. With that kind of money, the Altoona Area School District said it could serve another purpose.

“We would be looking at personnel and additions in that area, because if we didn’t have 500 students in our cyber academy and another 300 or so in outside cyber options, we would have an additional, you know, anywhere from 400 to 700 students attending school every day, which would require increased staff and increased services and at the end of the day, increased opportunities for our kids,” Brad Hatch, Superintendent of the Altoona Area School District said.

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However, House Bill 2370 has not passed yet. It was referred to the Education Committee, where it has been since mid-June. In the meantime, school dollars still linger in recess.

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