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School system weaknesses create cyber school growth
Editorial, Williamsport (Pa.) Sun-Gazette
May 29, 2009
A proposal from the state Department of Education would restrict the amount of funding cyber schools receive, based on whichever school meeting basic standards spent the least.
It's a proposal sure to please the teacher unions, lawmakers and some parts of the school board network that have expressed misgivings about the amount of money cyber schools take from school districts.
Of course, those complaints tend to overlook the root causes of the fleeting student population to cyber schools.
More than 20,000 students are now enrolled in cyber schools. While cyber schools aren't the answer for all students and most of the public education product in this region is solid, cyber schools are the answer for some, or the numbers wouldn't be growing.
They are the answer for advanced and struggling students not getting the proper instruction they need.
They are the answer for some students struggling in just one subject but unable to get the kind of instruction they are craving.
And they are the answer for those craving safer and better educational options than their assigned schools.
The state public school system would be better served if the leaders of it would figure out why cyber and charter schools have become a viable alternative to the traditional education system. The answers would lead them to attempt to solve some of the system's larger problems.
While school districts spend $13,300 per pupil, cyber schools receive $8,700 per pupil and the state reimburses school districts for 30 percent of the cost of charter and cyber schools. The total cost of cyber schools is less than 1 percent of the $24 billion taxpayers spent on Pennsylvania pubic schools last year.
Rather than spending all kinds of energy trying to limit funding to cyber schools, leaders of the system should look harder at the weak parts that are leading parents and students to turn to alternative education means.