Pa. charter schools have no accountability
- Posted: 11/21/12 12:01 am
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The Pennsylvania General Assembly has failed again in its attempt to provide financial and academic accountability to charter schools. The 11th hour attempt to pass charter school reform failed on June 30 and the General Assembly struck out again on October 17 as both chambers adjourned without passing legislation. The June 30 failure was due to a controversial portion that would have excluded charter school management and vendors from the Right-To-Know Law, which would have allowed charter schools to conceal their expenditures from the public that funds them.
Fixing the flawed funding formula for charters was a top priority for the reform process. The state auditor general has emphasized that charter schools are costing taxpayers an additional million dollars a day. Pennsylvania spends an average of $13,411 per student to attend a brick-and-mortar charter school, about $3,400 above the national average of $10,000.
Cyber charters, with no school buildings and fewer teachers, educate students at a substantially