School districts make more than $1 billion in tuition payments to Pennsylvania’s cyber charter schools annually. Most of these dollars come from property taxes that are raised at the local level. They are intended to be invested in educating students. However, thanks to a broken funding formula in Harrisburg and a lack of adequate state oversight, cyber charter schools waste millions of tax dollars every year on things unrelated to educating students.
Each week, we will highlight a different school and new invoices that show how specific cyber charters waste tax dollars. (Spoiler alert: some of these invoices are shocking).
In addition, we will share the four year cohort graduation rates as well as Pennsylvania State Assessment scores for each featured cyber charter school within post. Be prepared to see some low numbers. Every single cyber charter in Pennsylvania has been identified as either a Comprehensive Support and Improvement school (CSI), a Targeted Support and Improvement (TSI) school, or an Additional Comprehensive Support and Improvement School (ACSI) which are schools facing the most significant challenges in academic achievement, student growth, and other areas. To view a full chart of all Pennsylvania cyber school performances compared to statewide averages, click here.
Check back each week on Monday to see the newest example of how cyber charter schools waste tax dollars—and why Pennsylvanians need state lawmakers to take immediate action to enact reforms that will protect taxpayers from this waste and abuse.
Week Five: Commonwealth Charter Academy
Auditor General Tim DeFoor’s recent audit of Commonwealth Charter Academy found that CCA is providing its employees with a $400/month fuel stipend. In other words, CCA is using tax dollars from school districts that are intended to be invested in educating students to pay their employees to drive to work.
Excerpt from the audit
Fuel Stipends – CCA provided $2.4 million for fuel stipends for all employees that work full time in a FSC (Family Service Center) during the 2021-22 and 2022-23 fiscal years. CCA management indicated that after returning to in-person work, the CCA Board of Trustees implemented a temporary fuel stipend of $200 per pay ($400 per month) for any staff member working full time from an FSC.
CCA stated that it implemented a stipend in lieu of a salary or hourly pay adjustment to ensure equity to staff due to heightened gasoline prices recognizing that rising gasoline and other prices would negatively impact staff returning to in-person work at the FSC.
Management indicated that the stipend is reviewed annually and is currently still in effect. However, CCA did not provide any policy or limitations to the stipends, such as limits based on the distance the employee is from the FSC. It appears the stipend was provided even if employees were commuting a short distance during the audit period.
Commonwealth Charter Academy Performance Audit, p. 35. (Our emphasis and spacing).
Auditor General Cyber Charter Audit (pg. 35)
Auditor General Cyber Charter Audit (pg. 36)
Week Four: Achievement House Cyber Charter School
“For week four, we invite you to examine the invoices that Achievement House Cyber Charter School provided to Education Voters of PA through a Right to Know request for expenses related to advertising and promotion for the 2023-2024 school year.
These invoices total $694,504.16 and include invoices for monthly media buys ranging between $30,000 and $50,000, digital advertising and consulting fees, and PR services.
According to the most recent information reported on the Future Ready PA Index, Achievement House Cyber Charter School enrolls 1083 students and is classified as a Comprehensive Support and Improvement (CSI) school.
Achievement House Cyber Charter School had a four-year cohort graduation rate of 50% in the 2022-2023 school year. The statewide average for that school year was 87.6%. Achievement House Cyber Charter is below statewide averages in percentage of “proficient or advanced students” for Pennsylvania State Assessments in English (28.0%), Math (3.3%), and Science (10.9%). All student groups did not meet interim goal/improvement targets for all three subjects.
Click invoices to enlarge.
Monthly Media Spend – $41,542.60
Monthly Media Spend – $34,781.09
Monthly Media Spend – $50,000.00
Google Advertising – $1560.00
Digital Consulting Fees – $1980.00
Digital Consulting and Advertising Fees –$3060.00
Week Three: Reach Cyber Charter School
Buckle up for week three.
Reach Cyber Charter School spent more than $4 million on gift cards for students during the 2023-2024 school year. These include nearly $3.9 million spent on grocery gift cards and more than $150,000 spent on gift cards to Dominos, Target, Walmart, Dunkin’, Five Below, and Booksamillion.
Records show some gift cards were provided as “state testing incentives” (p. 161) and “attendance rewards” (pp. 47, 67, 82, 98, 118, 136, and 151).
Let’s make this clear – every dollar that Reach Cyber Charter School spent on gift cards for students is a dollar that was paid by a Pennsylvania taxpayer. In fact, most of this money came from property taxes home and business owners paid to their local school districts.
According to the most recent information reported on the Future Ready PA Index, Reach Cyber Charter enrolls 6152 students and is classified as a Comprehensive Support and Improvement (CSI) school.
Reach Cyber Charter School had a four year cohort graduation rate of 80.0% in the 2022-2023 school year. The statewide average for that school year was 87.6%. Reach Cyber Charter is below statewide averages in percentage of “proficient or advanced students” for Pennsylvania State Assessments in English (19.3%), Math (6.3%), and Science (24.2%). All student groups did not meet interim goal/improvement targets for all three subjects.
Click invoices to enlarge.
Grocery Gift Card Purchase #1 – $953,183.20
Grocery Gift Card Purchase #2 – $973,461.20
Grocery Gift Card Purchase #3 – $977,948.40
Grocery Gift Card Purchase #4 – $989,590.80
Target Card Purchase – $87,508.00
Domino’s Gift Card Purchase – $54,000.00
Week Two: PA Virtual Cyber Charter School
For week two, we invite you to examine a yearly SEO management fee for PA Virtual Cyber Charter school – totaling $500,000.00. This agreement, originally listed at $420,000.00 but was then raised to $500,000.00, is paid to Nustream, a marketing company that specializes in “in promoting your business listing to the top of the Google search engine.” This invoice includes a $10,000.00 per month management fee.
In other words, PAVCS wasted half a million tax dollars in a single year on boosting their internet ads to the top of Google searches.
According to the most recent information reported on the Future Ready PA Index, PA Virtual Cyber Charter enrolls 2955 students and is classified as a Targeted Support and Improvement (TSI) school.
PA Virtual Cyber Charter had a four year cohort graduation rate of 83.2% in the 2022-2023 school year. The statewide average for that school year was 87.6%. PA Virtual Cyber is below statewide averages in percentage of “proficient or advanced students” for Pennsylvania State Assessments in English (34.5%), Math (16.0%), and Science (42.3%). All student groups did not meet interim goal/improvement targets for all three subjects.
Click invoices to enlarge.
One SEO Management Spend – $500,000.00
Week One: 21st Century Cyber Charter School
We invite you to examine the invoices that 21st Century Cyber School provided to Education Voters of PA through a Right to Know request for expenses related to advertising and promotion for the 2023-2024 school year.
These invoices total $608,270.76 and include invoices for commercial shoots, TV Advertising, Philadelphia Phillies and Pittsburg Pirates sponsorships, and thousands of dollars spent on social media advertising. On average, 21st Century Cyber School is spending approximately $551.47 per student per year on advertising and promotion expenses.
According to the most recent information reported on the Future Ready PA Index, 21st Century Charter School enrolls 1103 students and is classified as a Comprehensive Support and Improvement (CSI) school.
21st Century Cyber had a four year cohort graduation rate of 68.1% in the 2022-2023 school year. The statewide average for that school year was 87.6%. 21st Century is below statewide averages in percentage of “proficient or advanced students” for Pennsylvania State Assessments in English (47.5%), Math (25.5%), and Science (43.8%). All student groups did not meet interim goal/improvement targets for all three subjects.
Below you can find a sample of some of the invoices we received through our RTK request. Click invoices to enlarge.
Commercial Shoot – $29,000.00
TV Advertising – $163,440.00
TV Advertising – $183,350.00
TV Advertising – $128,145.00
TV Advertising – $136,670.00
Search Engine Optimization – $14,875.00