House Democrats unveil sweeping education bill to fix Pa.’s school funding and slash cyber charter payments

HARRISBURG — House Democrats on Tuesday unveiled a sweeping bill to change how Pennsylvania funds public education — with proposals to pour billions into underfunded schools over the next seven years and slash payments from school districts to cyber charters.

The bill, which passed the House Education Committee on a party line vote, comes as lawmakers ramp up budget negotiations, which will be centered around lawmakers’ attempts to fix Pennsylvania’s unconstitutional school funding system.

The proposal is sure to face resistance from Republicans, who control the Senate and have blocked past efforts to change funding for cyber charters — a perpetual source of controversy for public school advocates, who say the schools are poorly regulated and draining district budgets. Supporters say they’re a valuable form of school choice, a philosophy that many Republicans favor.

But in light of last year’s Commonwealth Court decision that found Pennsylvania’s school funding to be unconstitutional, Democrats say the state needs to focus on ensuring that school districts have the resources they needed to adequately educate students.

“Funding the cost of a public education system is the only task that is enshrined in the constitution that we’re required to do,” State Rep. Mike Sturla, former chairman of the committee tasked with reimagining Pennsylvania’s school funding system, said during Tuesday’s committee hearing. “If we did not fund anything else in the budget, no one could take us to court and find that we were in violation of the constitution.”

The 87-page bill would cement a plan brought forward by Sturla’s committee earlier this year, intended to address the court ruling’s findings that Pennsylvania has been depriving students of needed resources, particularly in poorer communities that can’t raise as much in local tax revenue as wealthier peers.

The plan sets targets for adequate funding in each district, based on a measure of what high-performing Pennsylvania districts spend, and how much aid the state owes each of them. The full amount — more than $5 billion — would be phased in over seven years.

“It is a step in the right direction,” said Eric Becoats, superintendent of Delaware County’s William Penn School District, which was a main plaintiff in the funding case.

Becoats was among four superintendents representing plaintiff school districts who sat in the front row of the opulent House Majority Caucus room Tuesday, as they saw their districts’ years of work arguing for greater state investment in schools finally gain traction.

“I am hopeful that this momentum will continue, and it definitely will help us to get the resources to the people that need it most — and those are our students,” Becoats said.

The plan would also provide extra aid to high-taxing school districts, with nearly $1 billion in tax equity supplements also phased in over that period.

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It would also make long-sought cuts by public education advocates to the tuition rates that school districts pay cyber charters — setting a flat per-pupil rate of $8,000 for most students. Currently, districts pay cyber charters $8,639 to $26,564, depending on the district’s own per-pupil spending — which varies widely between communities.

The rates are the same as what brick-and-mortar charter schools receive — a common source of criticism from public school advocates, who say the virtual schools don’t cost as much to run.

The cyber charter tuition changes — which would also adjust payments for special education students at the charters, with rates ranging from $13,120 to $50,720 depending on the severity of the disability — would save districts $530 million next year alone, according to House Democrats.

Charter advocates have opposed tuition rate cuts, which they say would deal a “crushing blow” to charter students.

But the bill targets Pennsylvania’s 13 cyber charters more broadly, proposing an array of changes to how the schools are regulated and how they can spend their money.

For instance, it would set strict limits on how much money the charters can maintain in fund balances — limiting the biggest schools to 8% of their budgeted expenditures, and requiring them to return excess money to school districts.

In recent years, Pennsylvania’s four largest cyber charters have amassed hundreds of millions of dollars in assets, as their revenues — largely supplied by school districts — have grown far faster than their expenses. (School districts also carry fund balances; last year, the state auditor general accused some area districts of shifting money into reserves to justify potential tax increases.)

It would also prohibit cyber charters from reimbursing parents for field trips; public-education advocates have pointed to parents discussing using reimbursements at venues like Dave and Busters and amusement parks.

Other changes would require cyber charters — which have been criticized for poor performance on standardized tests — to report students’ weekly attendance to school districts. The Pennsylvania Department of Education, which authorizes cyber charters, would also be required to evaluate the schools each year.

Senate Republicans have been resistant to House Democrats’ past attempts to update how cyber charters are funded. Senate GOP leaders have also reiterated that they believe any changes to the state’s funding system should include private school voucher funding so students in poor schools can have a greater opportunity to succeed in the meantime.

House Democrats will likely pass their bill next week, sending it to GOP leaders in the Senate. Leaders from the two chambers and Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro will then need to agree on any new funding system for public schools and cyber charters; the budget is due June 30.

State Rep. Jesse Topper (R., Bedford), the Republican chairman of the House Education committee, noted the Senate’s past resistance to major cyber charter changes and said more time and negotiation are needed to reach a bipartisan deal.

“We can’t guarantee success of every student due to many factors outside of what we do here in the House, but we can guarantee an opportunity to succeed,” Topper said. “I know we all share that goal. It’s a matter of how we get there. And I think we have to get there by working together.

“This product delivered today in this way does not allow us that opportunity,” Topper added. “I hope that that opportunity will avail itself in the coming weeks as we prepare for June 30.”