| We Can Do Better if We Really Want Education Choice
 It’s been a stormy week, to say the least. Not only are we all bracing for the nor’easter, this week’s news was flooded with a torrent of new research exposing failure, waste, and potential fraud in the cyber capital of the nation and the state’s tax credit programs underwriting private schools.
The PA Charter Performance Center, launched by Children First a year ago, released its first national report earlier this week. Our research blew us away. Pennsylvania:
– Has the most cyber charter students compared to the 27 other states that permit cyber charters,
– Is spending the most taxpayer money on cyber charters now cresting near $1 billion,
– Has the weakest oversight systems,
– And, no surprise, every cyber charter school is performing in line with the lowest performing schools in the state.
Unlike public schools which must post a public independent audit every year and are routinely audited by the state auditor general, six of the state’s 14 cyber charter schools have never been reviewed by state auditors and the largest cyber charter in the state, with a $270 million budget, was last audited ten years ago.
Were they audited as they should be by the state, the stunning news that also broke this week, that these schools are wasting $35 million on advertising, would have seen the light of day long ago. Thankfully the enterprising folks at Education Voters of PA did the legwork exposing extraordinary waste in the sector. Clearly, the state auditor general should be demanding an end to practices like this, but his campaign donors are a “who’s who” of the charter funding cabal, so Pennsylvania taxpayers are going to have to rely on dogged citizen accountability instead.
Headlines also popped with serious allegations about the failure of the state’s Education Improvement Tax Credit program, a euphemistic name for corporate tax breaks to underwrite private school tuition. This time, the critique comes from an inside source, the legislature’s own Independent Fiscal Office. Their scathing report on this tax credit found:
– PA has the highest administrative costs compared to other states,
– PA permits the wealthiest families to benefit,
– No evidence that the credit is achieving its intended purpose of enabling low-income children to enroll in private schools.
Given the relentless shower of bad news for the so-called school choice options in PA, it’s no surprise that the state Senate majority leaders held back a bill that would expand the tax credit program exponentially.
Instead of unleashing more funds for unproven programs, we suggest state lawmakers take the best practices in other states to clean up the biggest school choice failure of all – cyber charters.
1. Pay cyber schools lower tuition rates that reflect their real costs, like 11 other states do.
2. Pay cyber schools a standard tuition rate like Ohio does.
3. Require the state auditor general to perform regular audits of these state authorized schools.
4. Create clear criteria to permit the shuttering of failing cyber charters like Texas does.
5. Stop paying cyber charters where school districts have high-quality virtual learning programs of their own.
Ironically, all of this damning research came out during National School Choice Week. For parents and students to have real choice, they need to trust that the programs are high quality, and their tax dollars aren’t being wasted. Right now, they can’t be assured of either.
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