On Tuesday, October 22^nd, the PA Senate Education Committee held a public hearing on charter school entities. The CEOs of charter and cyber charter schools were invited to testify along with representatives from the School District of Philadelphia, the Commonwealth Foundation, Public Citizens for Children and Youth (PCCY), PA Partnerships for Children (PPC), and Education Voters of PA.

In the Ed Voters testimony, I primarily addressed the need for cyber charter school funding reform that will match the tuition payments school districts make to state-authorized cyber charter schools with the actual cost of educating a student at home on a computer.

It widely recognized that tuition payments to cyber charter schools far exceed the cost of educating a child at home on a computer. In the testimony, I shared what I learned from a single 990 form from a single cyber charter school. See their 990 form HERE.

It was deeply troubling.

Click HERE to read the full Ed Voters’ testimony.

Click HERE to watch a video of the hearing. Our testimony starts at 2:32:48 in the video (and it is good!). You will also find and written testimony from other testifiers at this link.

For the fiscal year ending June 2018, Commonwealth Charter Academy had revenues of $130 million and expenditures of $111 million. That left the school with an $18 million surplus for the year, or 14% of their budget. See their 990 form HERE.

CCA also reported that it spent $7.9 million on advertising through a contract with the Bravo Group and reported $6.6 million for “advertising and promotion.”

I was confused by these two advertising items and filed a Right to Know request with CCA to try to understand if the $6.6 million spent on advertising and promotion was in addition to the $7.9 million, for a total advertising cost of $14.5 million for that year; or if the $6.6 million was included in the contract with the Bravo Group.

I did not receive an answer to my question, but instead received a letter from Commonwealth Charter Academy lawyers that states, “CCA must deny your request, insofar as it seeks records which would contain or reveal legally protected trade secrets and confidential proprietary information.”

We filed an appeal with the Office of Open Records.

The taxpayer money that is sent to cyber charter schools is intended to be spent educating children, not funding their “protected trade secrets.”  

It is wrong that Pennsylvania charter schools, which proudly proclaim that they are “public schools,” can hide how they spend millions and millions of taxpayer dollars each year.

It deeply troubling that we know at least one cyber school could be spending millions of property tax dollars each year on “trade secrets.”

Advocates like you have spoken up in every corner of the commonwealth about the need for charter school reforms that will address critical funding and accountability issues. Lawmakers and Governor Wolf are listening and taking action. In Pennsylvania, the opportunity for meaningful charter reform has arrived and we are ready to support it!

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