The 2025-2026 state budget that was enacted in November included modest adjustments to the tuition calculation for cyber charter schools that saved school districts $78 million. We commend state lawmakers for approving these tuition adjustments with strong bipartisan support to save taxpayer dollars, rein in wasteful spending by cyber charters, and help align the tuition school districts pay to cyber charters more closely with the cost of an online education.

Evoking Chicken Little, cyber charters are spreading the message that these tuition adjustments will devastate their industry. In our “According to their Records” series we will share expenditures that cyber charters have approved after  the tuition adjustments were enacted on November 12, 2025. 

Is the sky really falling?  Or do cyber charters remain awash in excess funding? You can be the judge. 

This week we are looking at field trips that the PA Cyber Charter School board approved during its February 2026 board meeting.  Click HERE for the invoices we received via a Right-to-Know request. 

These include:

• $28,800 for a field trip to the Kalahari Resort, including 400 waterpark passes and meal vouchers that cost $62 per attendee,
• $13,375.70 for 192 tickets ranging from $25 to $92 for a field trip to the Sight and Sound Theatre in Lancaster County,   
• $6,18.80 for parties at five different Urban Air locations, and 
• $5,088.00 for 125 students to enjoy two hours of snow tubing at the Seven Springs Mountain resort.

This totals more than $50,000 that PA Cyber spent on field trips in a single month. 👀

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Governor Shapiro has proposed and the PA House has passed a 2026-2027 state budget (with bipartisan support) that includes an additional $75 million reduction in the amount of tuition school districts would pay to cyber charter schools. The proposed adjustments will save taxpayer money and continue to bring tuition payments closer to the cost of an online education.

If you agree that the legislature should continue to rein in wasteful spending by cyber charter schools, give your state senator a quick call and ask him/her to support the $75 million in proposed cyber savings in the 2026-2027 state budget. Click HERE to find your senator’s phone number.