Current News
Trombetta: Cybers already doing more with less funding
Testimony of Dr. Nick Trombetta, CEO of Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School Before the Pennsylvania House Education Committee Aug. 1, 2007 The Honorable James Roebuck Jr., Chairman
Thank you Mr. Chairman and members of the committee for this opportunity and welcome to Beaver County the birthplace of PA Cyber and home of our state’s largest cyber charter school.
Today, PA Cyber serves over 6,000 students and our enrollment is expected to surpass 7,000 students in the 2007-2008 school year.
Pennsylvania has led the nation in this area with nearly 20,000 students and over 3000 employees involved with cyber education today.
It all started with you – the legislature. Mr. Chairman, I want to remind you that in 1997 the legislature passed and Governor Ridge signed the Charter School Law. In 2002, the legislature again passed another law to provide parameters and funding for cyber charter schools. This was nothing short of a commitment between the state government and Pennsylvania families. These important laws gave families new educational opportunities because of a belief that parents could make the best choices for their children.
The nearly 20,000 students and their parents from across the state whose kids are currently enrolled in cyber schools depend on a promise you all made in 1997.
Cyber charter schools serve families who want and need the flexibility, security and opportunities provided by our schools. We combine the best technology, personal instruction and most rigorous curriculum with highly qualified teachers. Students and families choose PA Cyber for many reasons, such as: PA Cyber’s extensive course options; PA Cyber’s flexible schedule to complete academic course work; PA Cyber’s personalized education plans, which especially help students who might be in danger of falling through the cracks; PA Cyber’s extracurricular options for students; PA Cyber’s safe learning environment – a student’s own home; and, PA Cyber’s focus on providing the future of education today
The group of bills we are discussing today – especially HB 1655 and HB 446 – undermine the promises you’ve made to these students and parents for the following reasons:
- They threaten to undermine the quality of education more than 20,000 students receive by drastically cutting the funding for our schools.
- They eliminate the ability of parents to choose the school that best meets the needs of their child.
- And, they eliminate independence of cyber charter schools which is what drives innovation.
Further, cutting funding for cyber charter schools makes no sense when cyber schools are already doing a lot more with a lot less.
Augenblick, Palaich & Associaties, a firm that is currently doing a costing out study for the commonwealth, reports that the cost of operating a cyber school are about the same as those of a traditional brick and mortar school, with less spending on construction off-set by more investment in technology infrastructure, instructional materials, and teacher salaries.
Also, a recent study conducted by Dr. Robert Maranto of Villanova University suggests that cyber charters use their resources more efficiently than do traditional public schools. Further, they found that cyber schools compensate for a lack of funding by focusing on instruction and student services, rather than buildings and administrative costs, with 98% of cyber school’s money going to instruction and support services, compared with just 87% for traditional brick and mortar public schools.
Dr. Maranto’s study also suggests that cyber charters use their resources more efficiently than do traditional public schools. Cyber charters already have significantly less funding than the average $11,485 that traditional Pennsylvania public schools spent per-pupil in the 2005-2006 school year. Cyber schools spend, on average, $8,137 per-pupil — only 71% of what traditional schools spend. Even taking away construction and debt, cyber schools get far less funding for current expenditure, spending only 77% of what school districts spend.
Further, Governor Rendell’s foundation budgeting says that we aren’t doing enough to educate our children if we’re not spending at least $9,350 for each student in the Commonwealth. Should our public cyber charter schools students be worth any less?
All of us involved in this important discussion need to remember that charter schools, and particularly cyber charter schools, did not come into existence by accident nor has the success they have had in attracting students.
Students and parents choose cyber charter schools because they best meet the need of their children. Our research shows that cyber schools typically serve students from struggling school districts. Cyber school students tend to come from districts with lower graduation rates, lower SAT verbal scores, and lower PSSA reading and math scores. Cyber schools serve a higher proportion of low-income students than do traditional public schools -- About 43% of all cyber schools students are considered “low-income” compared with 34% in all public schools.
Cyber schools exist because they are needed and cyber schools are successful because they work for the vast majority of students and families who choose them.
If we truly want to address problems with the way we fund public schools, under-funding charter schools and increasing the number of bureaucratic hoops they are obliged to jump through is not the solution. We should instead be finding ways to encourage greater sharing of services among all public schools, traditional and charter alike. That is why I am a strong proponent of the “common cents” proposal put forth by the Rendell Administration.
In closing, let me say that while I am pleased to take part in these discussions concerning cyber school funding, I wish we all could focus on ways that public schools – traditional and charter – can work together to create a public education model that serves the needs of the 21st century.
Thank you.