There are several reasons why families might choose Pennsylvania cyber charter schools for their child, but there is no reason why taxpayers should fund cyber charters at the same tuition rates that they pay for brick-and-mortar charter school tuition.
For 23 years under Pennsylvania’s charter school law, cyber charter tuition rates have included costs that cyber charters typically do not incur, or incur to a significantly lesser degree, compared to brick-and-mortar charters or traditional public schools, including:
- Facility Costs: Cyber charter schools do not need to maintain multiple physical school buildings, where students spend their days learning, which eliminates expenses related to property insurance, property maintenance, utilities, and repairs.
- Security Costs: Cyber schools do not require security personnel or systems to monitor physical premises to ensure student safety.
- Custodial Services Costs: There is no need for janitorial staff or cleaning services and supplies for physical school buildings.
- Physical Classroom Supplies: Cyber schools save on costs for desks, chairs, whiteboards, lab equipment, printed textbooks and workbooks and other classroom furniture and supplies.
- Food Service Cost: There is no need for food, fixtures, equipment, supplies, storage, food service managers, kitchen staff, or cafeteria personnel.
- Costs related to extracurricular activities: Personnel, facilities, equipment, and supplies related to athletics, clubs, arts and music programs, including gymnasiums, athletic fields, stadiums, locker rooms, auditoriums, practice rooms, libraries.
- Groundskeeping Costs: Lawn care and snow removal.
- Daily Operational Overhead Costs: Onsite nursing services, front desk and office management staff for physical attendance and visitor check-in, physical attendance systems, badges, scanners.
- Charter School Tuition Payments: The tuition rate calculations include the costs that districts pay for cyber charter tuition.
- Costs for Property Tax billing, payment processing and collections
In 2018, visionary Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School founder Nick Trombetta was convicted of tax conspiracy and sentenced to 20 months in prison after admitting that he had siphoned $8 million to other companies that he controlled. Fast forward to 2024, when the Pennsylvania Auditor General reported that Commonwealth Charter Academy (CCA) owns 19 buildings.
Neither Trombetta nor CCA broke any Pennsylvania law. However, both of these examples illustrate that cyber charter funding materially exceeds operating costs.
When school districts are required to overpay cyber charter tuition it means there are fewer resources available to invest in the education of their students.
While it is significant that the legislature finally took some steps at cyber charter reform with Act 55 in 2024, they must finish the work.
