PA: Cyber Charters as District Killers

The Wyoming Area School District is wedged in between Scranton and Wilkes-Barre. It's not a particularly affluent district-- 80% white and 100% free and reduced lunch. And they are in financial trouble. The district has raised taxes three years in a row, and they will run a deficit this year., per reports from the Citizens' Voice and the Times Leader.

The source of their woes? Well, around almost $3 million in cyber charter costs sure aren't helping.

The proposed solution? At their last meeting, the board's vice-president Peter Butera suggested it's time to look at a merger with a neighboring district.

Decreasing property values spurred by a 2011 flood and rising health care costs are part of the issue, but the district's business manager blamed that last tax hike on cyber charter tuition costs. They now represent about 6% of the district's budget. 

That last tax hike was hugely unpopular, with 100 taxpayers showing up to oppose a proposal that barely survived by a 5-4 vote. 

The district is among the vast number of Pennsylvania districts that has come out in favor of funding reform in the state. In Pennsylvania we still fund cyber charters by means laid out for bricks and mortar charters over twenty years ago. It's nonsensical, inconsistent, and highly profitable, which is probably why Pennsylvania is the cyber capital of the country.

Now, the legislature has dealt with many almost-annual attempts to fix the system so that taxpayers won't get hosed. Right now a bill has passed the House and is waiting for Senate action., As I asked in a Forbes piece, "Will Pennsylvania Finally Reform Its Cyber Charter School System?"

The answer is probably, "No, they won't." 

Here's the thing. Watch some hearings oi talk to legislators-- you'll see impassioned arguments from those who favor reform, and you'll see cyber supporters repeat the same mantra. One part of the mantra is along the lines of "Neener neener, public schools do the same thing" (they don't). The other part is that any kinds of reform will kill the cybers-- just kill them dead, despite the fact that somehow every other state with cybers has a stricter system and yet cybers survive. And what you won't see at the hearing is an actual representative of a cyber charter, because they have legislators all lined up. 

So maybe the Wyoming district gets absorbed by another district because taxpayers aren't willing to shoulder the extra expense of supporting a cyber-charter leach attached to the district. And maybe the taxpayers of the district will be really upset if they lose their independent district, and they'll bitch and moan and complain, like many taxpayers across the state (including plenty in my own county).

But here's the dynamic in PA. The taxpayers will bitch and moan about the effects of letting cyber charters bleed the local district dry. But what the voters in these very Republican districts won't do is make their elected representatives suffer any consequences for their cyber charter support. Wyoming is red territory (65% for Trump in 2024). 

District leaders, both administrators and boards across the state, are trying to ramp up pressure for a rational system for cyber funding, but as always, it is limited in effectiveness. Maybe it's the severe gerrymandering in the state, or maybe it's that GOP voters are more worried about a trans kid playing sports in their district than they are about keeping the district open.

We'll see if Wyoming is a fluke or a canary in the educational coal mine. But I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for Harrisburg to come to their rescue.