Charter School Funding Change Considered by Perk Valley School Board

The Perkiomen Valley School Board considered a “Resolution Calling for Reform of the Commonwealth’s Charter and Cyber Charter School Funding Formula” at its April 1 meeting, which will be voted on Monday.

According to the resolution, “the current state funding formula for regular and special education in charter and cyber charter schools bears no relationship to the actual instructional costs incurred by the charter schools,” wasting millions in taxpayer dollars.

According to a chart in the resolution, the Perkiomen Valley School District paid just under $700,000 in charter school expenses in the 2010-2011 school year, and received $151,992 from the state.  The state eliminated charter school reimbursement for school districts in the 2011-2012 school year, in which the district paid just over $1 million in charter school expenses and received no reimbursement from the state.

The school district urges the General Assembly to “support legislation to correct the tuition and pension payment inequities under the current charter school funding formula so that the funding received by the charter school reflects the true cost of educating the child” in the resolution, so that local taxpayers to no overpay for services.

The resolution was provided to the school board by the Pennsylvania School Boards Association.