Cyber Charter Funding Under Attack: Hearings Set
CYBER CHARTER SCHOOL FUNDING UNDER ATTACK: HEARINGS SCHEDULED
Press Release from the Pennsylvania Coalition of Charter Schools
The Pennsylvania Coalition of Charter Schools is urging the House Education Committee to reject a package of bills that aim to thwart Pennsylvania families’ legal right to exercise public school choice. Proposed House Bills 483, 1362, and 2036 each seek to cut off vital public cyber charter school funding in their own regard.
At 9 a.m. Wednesday, March 17, 2010, the House Education Committee will hold a hearing to consider these three and other charter school-related bills.
HB 483 (PN 535) seeks to permit school districts to deny per pupil funding to cyber charter schools students who do not meet the district’s minimum requirement for the age of kindergarten or beginner level. The bill defines "beginners" to mean any child who enters the lowest grade of the primary school or the lowest primary class above the kindergarten level.
However 483 ignores last year’s Commonwealth Court decision that upholds such funding denial as illegal (Slippery Rock Area School District v. Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School). In this case, the Slippery Rock Area School District refused to release funding for a four-year old student who was enrolled in the Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School because the district itself does not allow children under five to attend kindergarten. The Court ruled the district’s age restriction is irrelevant in regard to the charter school’s kindergarten policy, and therefore, the district must release the funds.
HB 1362 (PN 1646) seeks to allow school districts to deny charter schools funding for programs or services not provided by the district. This is absurd as charter schools are independent of school districts—not exact representations of the districts. The Court said in the Slippery Rock case mentioned above, “It would frustrate this purpose if the school districts were required to fund only those programs of the charter school which mirrored the programs offered by the school district.
HB 2036 – (PN 2791) seeks to allow school districts to deny funding for students who enroll in public charter schools if the district or the intermediate unit operates a cyber charter school. To classify this legislation as anything less than an unabashed money grab by special interest groups representing entities opposed to public charter schools would be akin to willful and deliberate ignorance.
“House Bills 483, 1362, and 2036 audaciously defy the spirit and intent of the Charter School Act, which gives families the right to exercise public school choice,” said Pennsylvania Coalition of Charter Schools President Lawrence Jones, Jr. “Public school choice is crucial to eliminating social and economic barriers that stand in the way of children’s ability to attain a better public school education and safer learning environments than their school districts may provide.”
Members of the Pennsylvania Coalition of Charter School will testify at Wednesday’s hearing and will be available for interview prior and immediately after the event.
Testifiers will include:
• John Marsh, 21st Century Cyber Charter School CEO and Beth Santangelo, Pennsylvania Virtual Charter School Parent - HB 1362, HB 2036 – parental choice
• Andrew Oberg, Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School Executive Director HB 483 – 4-year old kindergarten program (court case and parental choice)
• Maurice Flurie, Connections Academy - HB 2320 - truancy
• Bill Winters, Collegium Charter School CEO - HB 2328 –transportation
About the Pennsylvania Coalition of Charter Schools (PCCS): The mission of the Pennsylvania Coalition of Charter Schools is to provide information and guidance to persons wishing to start a charter public school; to act in an advisory capacity to the Pennsylvania State Department of Education in matters concerning charter public schools; to act as a monitor to charter public school legislation; and, to focus and promote efforts to strengthen charter public school legislation. More than 70,000 students are enrolled in Pennsylvania’s 128 charter schools throughout the Commonwealth. For more information, visit www.pachartercoalition.com or call 484-356-0191.
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