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03/29/2024 08:42 AM
Pennsylvania State Senate
https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/Legis/CSM/showMemoPublic.cfm?chamber=S&SPick=20210&cosponId=37293
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Senate of Pennsylvania
Session of 2021 - 2022 Regular Session

MEMORANDUM

Posted: May 3, 2022 04:03 PM
From: Senator Gene Yaw
To: All Senate members
Subject: Charter School Reconciliation
 
In the near future, I plan on introducing legislation which would guarantee that payments made to a charter school are accurate. The legislation would also update the process used to reconcile the payments due to a charter school from public school districts.
 
Under current law, if school districts fail to make monthly payments to charter schools, the charter school sends an invoice to PDE and from there PDE directly pays the charter school but deducts the amount from the school district’s state subsidy.  School districts may object for a variety of reasons, including questioning charges for students not residing in the school district or the number of days that the charter school may have educated a student. One of the issues is PDE is not required to notify school districts prior to any redirection, and current law does not provide for a complete and timely dispute resolution process. The lack of structure and timelines has resulted in longstanding, unresolved disputes over millions of dollars. This situation continues today and creates financial uncertainty for both charter schools and school districts creating cases that involve more than $30 million dollars of unresolved issues.
 
This bill would require PDE to verify the accuracy of a charter school request for subsidy redirection and hold off on any redirection if the request is inaccurate or incomplete. These school districts would be notified prior to any subsidy redirection and have the right to an appeal. PDE would also be required to resolve appeals within a timely manner. To guarantee that school district payments, and any subsidy redirections to charter schools are accurate, this bill would also ensure that charter schools properly record and maintain records of enrollment as well as proof of residency.
 
I hope you will join me in cosponsoring this legislation to bring balanced structure and accountability with how funds are distributed to charter schools in PA.