In Pennsylvania, our state law is supposed to protect children. Yet a loophole in Pennsylvania’s charter school law, combined with lax enforcement by the state agency responsible for overseeing cyber charters, leaves vulnerable children enrolled in these schools at grave risk.

A recent NBC investigation reports a case of heinous abuse inflicted on children while they were enrolled in Pennsylvania’s largest cyber charter school, Commonwealth Charter Academy.

After a fifteen-year-old boy escaped from his home, authorities in the Lehigh Valley found that he and his twin brother weighed just 50-some pounds. Their parents are accused of starving and abusing their children and face conspiracy to commit murder, child endangerment, aggravated assault, and other charges.

The issue of cyber charter caregivers abusing their children is not new. In 2019, nearly 20 school superintendents spoke out about their fears that caregivers who withdrew their children from school districts and enrolled them in cyber charters would be able to abuse them without detection. In May of 2024 a child enrolled in CCA died after being starved and abused by her caregivers.

How can cyber charter caregivers abuse their children without detection?

The danger stems from the ability of cyber charter students to be enrolled in fully asynchronous education programs – meaning they complete work independently online without any real-time interaction with teachers. In these programs, children can go days, weeks, or even longer without being seen or spoken to by an adult outside their home. While some families opt to have their children participate in synchronous instruction, where students interact with teachers on a regular basis, other caregivers can choose to completely isolate their children from interactions with any adults from the outside world.

A loophole in the charter school law

A state law passed last year requires that cyber charter students, ”are able to be visibly seen” on camera once per week. The law does not specify that students “must be seen,” creating a loophole in the law that allows cyber charters to avoid conducting wellness checks where teachers actually see and interact with their students on camera once per week. Commonwealth Charter Academy has made legal arguments justifying their refusal to require wellness checks based on this loophole.

In addition to passing a state budget with no increase in state funding for public schools, Senate Republicans are threatening to completely abandon students in Pennsylvania’s most underfunded districts by walking away from the bipartisan commitment they made last year to address the $4 billion adequacy gap in public school funding.  This investment was not just good policy that supported students— it is a constitutional obligation following the Commonwealth Court’s ruling that our school funding system fails to meet the requirements of our state constitution. 

A lack of enforcement at the state level.

Making matters worse, the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE), which authorizes cyber charter schools to operate in the commonwealth, stated in the NBC story that it isn’t planning any sanctions for CCA’s noncompliance with the wellness checks. In other words, the law is meaningless if there are no consequences for cyber charters that refuse to comply with it

How can state lawmakers protect children in cyber charter schools?

The state legislature must clarify the law to include explicit language requiring wellness checks that will mandate teachers actually see and interact with students on a regular basis to ensure their wellbeing and report any concerns of suspected abuse.

The legislature must also enshrine in law consequences for cyber charter schools that refuse to comply with and provide sworn documentation of regular wellness checks. These consequences should include the automatic revocation of the school’s charter if the cyber school refuses or fails to comply with the law.

Lawmakers must take decisive action to protect cyber charter students NOW.

In Pennsylvania, caregivers can enroll children in a cyber charter school, isolate them from any contact with adults in the outside world, and inflict horrific abuse on these children in secret. 

This is wrong.

State lawmakers must immediately return to Harrisburg and pass bipartisan legislation that will protect cyber charter students from abuse through mandatory, meaningful, and regular wellness checks. Lawmakers must also enshrine in law severe consequences for schools that refuse or fail to comply with ensuring the health and wellbeing of their students. 

Click HERE to tell your lawmakers that it is past time for Harrisburg to protect cyber charter

Thank you for your continued support of public education. We are closely watching what is happening in Harrisburg and will report to you when there is any news of a breakthrough with the state budget.