On June 1, we had the pleasure of welcoming Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf to J.P. McCaskey High School. He and others spoke on the importance of reforming our state’s outdated and counterproductive laws governing charter schools. My remarks from the governor’s press conference are below.
Thank you Governor Wolf for your continued leadership and advocacy on this issue.
The School District of Lancaster serves 11,000 students in this richly diverse community. Our students come from nearly 70 different countries and speak 38 different languages. One out of five students is learning English as a second language. Nine out of 10 students are economically disadvantaged.
Our students often have educational, emotional, and physical needs that are costly. In fact, it’s estimated that it costs two and a half times more to educate a student who is living in poverty than one who is not.
Our district is facing a structural deficit for years to come—this year, it is about $16 million. Charter schools—especially cyber charter schools—are draining funding from our district at a time when our students can least afford it.
Our charter school tuition costs have skyrocketed by nearly 80% in the past six years. We project it will grow another 12% next year, to nearly $9 million, more than half of our deficit.
Nearly all of this growth is due to the rise in cyber charter students. The number of our students attending cyber charter schools has grown by 25% in just the past year.
Yet we offer our students a fully online school, Cyber Pathways Academy, which offers the same opportunities and learning resources—and in some cases, more—as charter schools. And it costs far less per student.
We know that cyber charter schools are some of the lowest-performing schools in Pennsylvania. Charter schools represent 6% of all public schools statewide but account for roughly 25% of the lowest performing schools in the state.
Additionally, charter schools have engaged in questionable operational practices, including spending millions on advertising and lobbying, with far less fiscal oversight or transparency than we have.
We are not opposed to school choice. We believe every child deserves an excellent education.
But Pennsylvania’s charter school law is having the opposite effect—it is harming our schools and the students we serve. We support Governor Wolf’s reforms and urge the Legislature to fully implement them.