School Leaders And Legislators Call For Charter School Funding Reform

COLLEGEVILLE, PA — School officials and state lawmakers from the region converged at a Montgomery County elementary school on Monday to rally the call for charter school reform in the commonwealth.

The group, which included area superintendents and elected school directors, held a news conference in front of Evergreen Elementary School in Collegeville to call for reform to the ways that charter schools are funded in Pennsylvania.

A group called Children First: The Advocate For Kids, which helped organize Monday's event in central Montgomery County, says that charter school fees, which are paid by local school districts across the state, are projected to soar by $1.7 billion over the next three years and represent the fastest growing cost in Pennsylvania's education system.

"School districts will need an additional $3 billion in local revenues by 2025 and, under the current system, most of these new funds will come from higher local property taxes," the group said in a news release.

Children First is a nonprofit organization that says it works to improve the lives of children in Montgomery, Bucks, Chester, Delaware and Philadelphia Counties by advocating for healthcare, childcare, public education and family stability.

Those who attended Monday's press conference included the superintendents of the Perkiomen Valley, Norristown, Quakertown and Upper Dublin School Districts, as well as two school board members from Montgomery County districts, five state representatives from the region, and other advocates, according to Children First.

In a story in the Philadelphia Inquirer, Norristown School District Superintendent Christopher Dormer was quoted as saying the call for reform was not an attack on parental rights to choose the best schooling for their children but rather an "attack on a law that is broken," with "skewed formulas that have resulted in drastic overpayments" to charter schools with little to no oversight with regard to the spending of taxpayer dollars.

In a Facebook post, Children First said that under the current funding system, "We're robbing millions of dollars from our public schools to line the pockets of private charter companies. Reform now!"

Children First says that 432 school boards across Pennsylvania have already passed resolutions calling for charter school funding reform in Pennsylvania.

Patch reached out to the office Rep. Joe Webster, one of the lawmakers who attended Monday's rally.

His office stated that Webster believes that it is a problem when cyber charter schools are so overfunded that they can spend millions of taxpayer dollars on advertising.

"Their owners and their management companies are becoming enormously rich, creating personal wealth, on taxpayer dollars," Webster's statement reads. "They have to dream up ideas for how to clear their books."

In his statement, Webster said that it is crucial that charter schools — both online, cyber charters as well as brick and mortar charter schools — be held accountable to taxpayers for the money they spend.

"Especially after COVID, we know very clearly how much it costs to provide online, virtual curriculum to school students," Webster said in his statement. "But 'brick and mortar' charters have a similar responsibility. They don't provide all the extra-curriculars that our school districts do but they get the same funding per student. With tax dollars.

"So, at the very least, they should be audited," Webster continued. "At the very least. A simple fact. As taxpayers, we deserve to know where every dollar goes — just as we do for our public schools. Let's hold charter schools to the same standards as our public school districts."

The call for charter funding reform seems to have garnered bipartisan support, with both Democratic and Republican lawmakers participating in Monday's news conference.

Those who were in attendance at Monday's event included State Reps. Matt Bradford, Joe Ciresi, Joe Webster, and Napolean Nelson, all Montgomery County Democrats, as well as Montgomery County Republican Rep. Tracy Pennycuick.

Photos from the event can been seen here, posted to the Children First Facebook page.