NEWS
A cyber charter’s flagrant disregard for transparency
With the June 30th state budget deadline looming, negotiations in Harrisburg are heating up. Lawmakers return to the Capitol on Monday and are scheduled to be in session every day through June 30th. Advocates in every corner of the commonwealth have been working hard...
A Major Step Toward Constitutional Public School Funding in PA!!
Hooray! The PA House Passes HB 2370 We are thrilled that the Pennsylvania House has passed HB 2370, taking a crucial first step toward securing constitutional public school funding. This is a significant victory for education in our state. You can find a summary of...
Cyber charter waste and asset hoards are obscene. Tell state lawmakers to reform cyber charter school funding.
On Thursday, May 16, we issued a report detailing the egregious financial landscape of Pennsylvania's largest cyber charter schools. We have long made the case that Pennsylvania cyber charter schools are awash in excess funding that they waste. Our report shows that...
For Immediate Release: New Report Finds Staggering, Exponential Increase In Cyber Charter Asset Hoards From 2018-2022 and More Than $21 Million Spent On Advertising and Gift Cards In a Single Year
For Immediate Release Contact: Susan Spicka New Report Finds Staggering, Exponential Increase In Cyber Charter Asset Hoards From 2018-2022 and More Than $21 Million Spent On Advertising and Gift Cards In a Single Year Property taxes paid by home and business...
It was a BIG week in Harrisburg
A lot happened in Harrisburg this week. On Tuesday, the Senate Education Committee passed Senate Bill 795, a private school voucher bill that would provide cash handouts to families to pay for their children's private education. All Republicans on the committee...
A Big Week In Harrisburg!
A lot happened in Harrisburg this week. On Tuesday, May 7, the Senate Education Committee passed Senate Bill 795, a private school voucher bill that would provide cash handouts to families to pay for their children's private education. All Republicans on the...
New Report–PA’s Track Record on Private School Vouchers: Still no Accountability
Last week The Keystone Research Center issued an important and damning report focused on Pennsylvania’s Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) and Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit (OSTC) private school voucher programs. Click HERE to read Pennsylvania'sTrack...
Take Action Now: Help Us Pass Resolutions in Support of Constitutional Public School Funding
Public school students in Pennsylvania won a landmark victory in February of 2023 when Commonwealth Court handed down a decision declaring that our current system for funding public schools is unconstitutional. We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to build a...
RESPONSE to our letter to Auditor General DeFoor (again) requesting an audit of Commonwealth Charter Academy
UPDATE:On 4/4/2024 Auditor General DeFoor sent this letter to us. We look forward to the release of the CCA audit and will be looking specifically for information abou thow CCA has spent money on fleet vehicles, marketing staff, Family Fun Fests, food trucks, theme...
Pennsylvanians for Welcoming and Inclusive Schools
Ed Voters is a proud partner of the Pennsylvanians for Welcoming and Inclusive Schools (PA WInS) coalition, which includes the Education Law Center, ACLU-PA, Disability Rights-PA, the Pennsylvania School Librarians Association, and many other valued partners. PA...
Finally some accountability for $470 million in school voucher spending in PA??!!
Pennsylvania has two programs that will spend a combined $470 million in 2023-2024 to provide taxpayer-funded vouchers to private and religious schools: the Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) and the Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit (OSTC) programs. ...
Our Testimony: School Vouchers Fund and Fuel Hate
I was honored to have been invited to speak at the House Democratic Policy Committee hearing on the Basic Education Funding Commission Report at the Chester County Intermediate Unit on Tuesday, March 5, 2024. I chose to focus my remarks on private school vouchers....
Why taxpayer-funded vouchers are a (really) bad idea for Pennsylvania.
We are gearing up for a big fight in Harrisburg to keep Governor Josh Shapiro and state lawmakers from expanding school vouchers in the 2024-2025 state budget. The proposed PASS/ESA private school voucher proposals would give tax dollars directly to families...
PA Senate Appropriations Committee Hearing on Education Recap
On Wednesday, February 28th, the Senate Appropriations Committee held a budget hearing with the Pennsylvania Department of Education that focused on the proposed funding for education in Governor Shapiro’s 2024-2025 state budget. Budget hearings offer lawmakers...
Join us for the May 8th Public Education Advocacy Day in Harrisburg!!
We are busily planning the PA Schools Work advocacy day, which will be on Wednesday, May 8th in Harrisburg. As we have stated, this is an education budget worth fighting for. We need to make sure that state lawmakers understand that their...
We took a cyber charter to court–AND WON!!
In May of 2022, we learned that Commonwealth Charter Academy (CCA), PA’s largest cyber charter school, which received nearly $400 million in revenue in 2022, was providing families with hundreds of dollars per student in reimbursements each year using a...
This is a Budget Worth Fighting For
On Tuesday, February 6th, Governor Josh Shapiro gave his 2024-2025 state budget address. Below please find details of the funding proposals in the budget, including links to spreadsheets that will download and open as Excel files.. Click HERE to read the full response...
Governor Shapiro’s proposed, historic investment in public K-12 schools deserves strong support; a new private school voucher program that could make these investments in public schools short lived must be opposed.
For Immediate Release February, 6, 2024 Governor Shapiro’s proposed, historic investment in public K-12 schools deserves strong support; a new private school voucher program that could make these investments in public schools short lived must be opposed....
Gov. Shapiro should reject private school vouchers in his budget address
Private school vouchers are a very bad idea. As states around the nation adopt and expand these programs, we get a crystal clear understanding of the catastrophic impact that private school vouchers have on public schools AND the massive amount of tax dollars that...
New Cyber Charter School Approved by Shapiro Administration
On the afternoon of Wednesday, January 24th, Governor Josh Shapiro’s Department of Education quietly posted a letter addressed to Mark LeBlond informing him that the Department had granted his application for a five-year charter for the Pennwood Cyber Charter...