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Pennsylvania House of Representatives
05/16/2024 10:01 AM
Pennsylvania House of Representatives
https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/Legis/CSM/showMemoPublic.cfm?chamber=H&SPick=20230&cosponId=41070
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House of Representatives
Session of 2023 - 2024 Regular Session

MEMORANDUM

Posted: June 22, 2023 09:17 AM
From: Representative Joe Ciresi
To: All House members
Subject: Modernizing Pennsylvania’s brick & mortar charter school law
 
When Pennsylvania’s Charter School Law was established in 1997, the idea was to give families greater flexibility and choice for their children’s education. Charter schools would be available as an alternative to improve learning opportunities and outcomes throughout the Commonwealth by introducing new and innovative teaching methods to our traditional public schools.
 
For a quarter of a century now, brick and mortar charter schools have not been held to the same academic and fiduciary standards as Pennsylvania’s public schools.  Our weak and outdated charter school law has created opportunities for taxpayer money to be wasted and misused with insufficient public oversight, while too many charter schools underperform academically and struggle to operate efficiently and ethically.

We need to be tough on the schools failing our kids when it comes to academics, ethics, and cost. We need to reward solid performers who are innovating while still delivering on our obligations.

Our elected school boards across the state representing all types of communities – urban and rural, affluent and low-income, liberal and conservative – have joined together calling for long-overdue change, with 467 school boards (and counting!) passing resolutions urging us to pass charter school reform. We can listen to our local elected officials, from every one of our legislative districts, who have made it clear that the status quo isn’t working. We can make our current system better, make sure publicly-funded charter schools operate by the same good-governance rules as traditional public schools while preserving school choice.

Comprehensive brick & mortar charter school reform will bring us better results, better information for parents, and the peace of mind of knowing that taxpayer money is being invested properly, in building a future our kids deserve.
 
Protecting Your Right to Know
  • Requires charter school trustees and administrators to live by the same financial and ethical reporting standards public school board members and school district officials live up to;
  • Requires charter schools to be transparent with expanded public reporting requirements and annual audits, so that the people can make sure public funds are being properly spent to educate our children; and
  • Ensures that the companies running charter schools open up their records and be transparent to the public as recipients of public funds.

Protecting Your Property Tax Dollars

  • Requires charter schools to document their costs for providing special education services and prevents them from receiving overpayments that exceed what they spend, ensuring that the money dedicated for special education goes to providing services for students who need them;
  • Implements the same tiered Special Education Fair Funding Formula public schools use for charter school special education funding, directing dollars based upon the needs and costs of each student so that every student gets the support they deserve;
  • Requires charter schools to carry enough insurance to take care of kids and families if the charter closes.
Protecting the Future of Our Kids
 
  • Creates clear and standard processes for applications to create, amend, or renew a charter for a charter school;
  • Requires annual assessments of charter schools to ensure they are meeting their goals, including reviews of academic performance, financial management, operations, and compliance with state and federal laws; and
  • Recognizes and rewards high-performing charter schools with more predictability and longer charter terms, while empowering charter authorizers to hold failing charter schools accountable.
It’s a big job, but our kids, their parents, and our taxpayers are counting on us. It’s time for a change for the better. Please sign on to this common sense, comprehensive reform bill for brick & mortar charter schools and let’s get to work on passing a new, modern charter school law.