Reality check

The Adams County Democracy for America Education Task Force has used this forum to present compelling evidence that publicly-funded cyber-charter schools are pulling millions of local tax dollars away from students who attend our local schools—and they doing a disservice to many of the students who attend these on-line schools by not helping them meet the academic standards expected by the state of Pennsylvania.

We have highlighted inequities in tuition rates school districts are required to pay for students who choose to attend a cyber-charter school; we have explained that our local school districts offer essentially the same options for on-line learning as the cyber-charter schools for nearly half the cost; and we have complained that these tuition rates are base on the cost to educate students at the local schools rather than the actual cost to the cyber-charter school.

Several pieces of legislation have been drafted to address some of the problems we have identified. These bills include SB 34, HB 526, and HB 1451. Our state representatives, Dan Moul and Torren Ecker, acknowledge the funding and performance problems we have identified and support these House bills. In addition, Governor Wolf has proposed several executive and legislative actions in regard to cyber-charter schools.

So what is the status of these bills, and what is the likelihood they will reach the Governor’s desk to be signed into law?  These are common sense reforms to legislation that were drafted 20 years ago—legislation that was flawed from the start and needs to be amended. Based solely on the merit of many of the proposed reforms, our sources tell us many State Representatives and Senators agree they are necessary and make sense.

Sadly, this legislation is stuck in committee and not likely to be brought before either the State House or Senate for a vote. Why? 

The answer can be summarized in two words:  MONEY and COURAGE.

Let’s look at the money issue first. One of the duties of the State House and Senate Leadership, both Republican and Democrat, is to protect the funding sources for their respective campaign committees. Because Democratic legislators receive the vast majority of campaign contributions from those who favor public education, Republicans respond by seeking support from individuals and groups that advocate for school choice, including cyber-charter schools.

These schools, though considered “public schools,” are big business. Private, for-profit companies run them. Not only do leaders of these companies lobby heavily against reforms, which would deny them millions of dollars in profits, they also make significant campaign contributions to legislators who vote their way.

To protect these contributions, the majority leaders of both the House and Senate will not allow these bills to move forward for fear they would impact contributions to the members of their caucus and to both the House and Senate Republican Campaign Committees.

This is where courage, or lack thereof, becomes a factor. Too many legislators lack the courage to vote their convictions when they feel that such a vote could jeopardize their ability to raise campaign donations and help them win their next election. This is particularly true of the leadership, who will not risk losing control of either house of the legislature.

So here is the reality check:  What’s right or what’s wrong on this issue doesn’t really matter.

It doesn’t matter that our school districts are forced to send excessive amounts of local tax dollars to under-performing schools. It doesn’t matter that students attending our local schools are denied resources that could be funded with the dollars that are wasted by the cyber-charter schools on advertising and profits for the private management companies. It doesn’t matter that your local property taxes go up, in part, because of the tuition costs your school district must pay to cyber-charter schools. It doesn’t matter that the majority of students enrolled in these cyber-charter schools do not meet the state’s academic standards or graduate from high school.

What matters is getting re-elected and maintaining power. That’s the priority. House Speaker Mike Turzai, House Majority Leader Bryan Cutler, Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman, and Senate President Pro-Tempore Joe Scarnati will not allow any cyber-charter school reforms to come before the State House or Senate: not because of their views on the merits of the proposed bills, but because of the potential negative impact of just allowing these common sense reforms to move forward.

As stated earlier, Representatives Moul and Ecker support both HB 526 and HB 1451. In fact, Rep. Moul has worked to promote such reforms since being elected to the House of Representatives 13 years ago. Too many of their colleagues, however, see no political advantage to supporting cyber-charter school reform legislation despite privately acknowledging the problems with funding inequities, property taxes, and poor student performance scores.

So don’t expect much to happen in terms of cyber-charter school reform, until one of two things occurs:  either there is a powerful upwelling of public support and demand for these reforms, or there is a leadership change in who controls the State House and Senate.

Dennis Cope is a retired administrator of the Upper Adams School District and a member of the Education Task Force of the Gettysburg Democracy for Ameroca.