Rep. Joe Ciresi introduced a bill to require school board officials sit on charter boards

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, PA — A local state lawmaker is seeking out legislation to mandate local school board representation at charter schools.

State Rep. Joe Ciresi, a Democrat representing the 146th House District, which includes the Perkiomen Valley, introduced a bill last week that would require an elected school board official to sit on a charter school's board of trustees.

The proposal, House Bill 1803, is designed to improve oversight on how charter school's spend public tax dollars.

"Though our local school boards disburse our tax dollars to charter schools and are responsible to their taxpayers for how money they collect is spent, they often have little to no knowledge of what is happening inside the charter schools they're funding and whether the money is being spent properly," Ciresi said in a statement. "My bill would ensure accountability and oversight by requiring every charter school board of trustees to have a member appointed by the charter school's local elected authorizing school board."

According to Ciresi's office, school boards across the commonwealth do already have oversight and representation in other parts of the public education system, such as intermediate units and career and technology centers.

"The basis of good government — responsibility, efficiency and accountability — requires that we have an elected representative who represents the public interest and who can be called to account for how taxpayer money is being spent," Ciresi said in his statement. "My bill would ensure that happens."

Legislative records show that Ciresi's bill currently has six other sponsors, including fellow Montgomery County representatives Joe Webster, D-150, whose district represents Lower Providence Township, and Democrat Benjamin Sanchez, of the 153rd District, which includes Abington and Upper Dublin Townships.

According to the website for the group Keystone Center for Charter Change at Pennsylvania School Boards Association, as of the 2020-21 school year there were 163 brick-and-mortar charter schools operating across Pennsylvania, along with an additional 14 cyber charter schools. All told, around 169,000 Pennsylvania students attend these alternative learning institutions, according to the organization.