Ed Mahon, Centre Daily
December 23, 2009The number of Penns Valley Area students enrolled in cyber charter and brick-and mortar charter schools continues to grow, from 70 in the 2008-09 school year to 81 in the 2009-10 school year.
That trend’s occurring across the state, and Penns Valley Area School District administrators have two criticisms of it. They say they provide a better education more efficiently for taxpayers.
“This is not just about money. ... Are they getting the education that they need?” assistant superintendent Sherri Connell said at a board meeting earlier this month.
Penns Valley students, at every grade level, scored better than students at Sugar Valley Rural Charter School in Loganton, Clinton County, Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School and Pennsylvania Virtual Charter School on the 2008-09 PSSA exams.
In 11th grade, 33.1 percent of Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School students scored proficient or advanced in math compared with 66.4 percent at Penns Valley Area High School. At Sugar Valley Rural Charter School, 8.6 percent of students scored proficient or advanced in math.
Penns Valley’s performance against two brick-and-mortar schools, Young Scholars of Central Pennsylvania and Centre Learning Community in State College, varied by grade level.
The district says the loss of 81 students costs the district about $1 million in funding. Superintendent Brian Griffith said the loss of those students does not allow the district to save money on staffing because they’re spread across grade levels.
In June, Bellefonte Area school board approved creating a district-run cyber school, following in the footsteps of Penns Valley, Bald Eagle and Philipsburg-Osceola school districts. At the time, PA Cyber Charter communications coordinator Fred Miller said cyber charter schools forced traditional school districts to provide more options.
“They resisted this for a long time,” Miller said, adding that his charter school’s experience is an advantage. The largest and oldest cyber charter school, PA Cyber has more than 8,000 students.
This year, Penns Valley lost 10 students to PA Cyber.
The charter schools with the largest number of Penns Valley students are Sugar Valley, with 26; PA Cyber, 15; Young Scholars, 15; and CLC Charter, 13.
Administrators say they’ve done more to promote the district and contact parents of cyber charter students.
And those efforts have worked, just not fast enough to keep pace.
Since November 2008, 16 students have returned to the district and four more will begin with the district’s own cyber school next year. During that same time period, 27 other students either left the district for a cyber charter or brick-and-mortar charter school or didn’t enroll in the district.
PA Cyber is able to spend more on marketing, Penns Valley administrators said.
Board member Chris Houser said district officials and board members need to push state legislators to change the funding formula.
“I think the way to attack this is from the state level,” Houser said.
Board Member Allan Darr said, “It drives home the point we are in a competitive environment.”
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