The Pennsylvania Department of Health recently submitted its final-form charter school regulations to the General Assembly and the Independent Regulatory Review Commission for immediate review. The regulations will assist charter schools by clarifying their responsibilities as taxpayer-funded public schools under the Charter School Law.
“These regulations will promote transparency, equity, quality and accountability in the implementation of the Charter School Law,” said Secretary Dr. Noe Ortega. “Charter schools are supported by commonwealth taxpayers, and these schools will receive nearly $3 billion in publicly paid tuition during the 2021-22 school year. PDE has drafted these regulations to ensure that parents and taxpayers are fully aware of how these resources are being used.”
The regulations clarify several elements of the state Charter School Law that negatively impact school choice for Pennsylvania students and families. The regulations are:
– Provide clear application requirements for entities seeking to open a charter school, regional charter school and cyber charter school
– Ensure that all Pennsylvania students are able to access charter schools
– Clarify the ethics requirements for charter and cyber charter school trustees
– Require school districts and charter schools to follow the same fiscal management and auditing standards
– Streamline the process for charter schools to request tuition payments from school districts and the state
– Provide a consistent, commonsense method for charter schools to meet the employee healthcare requirements in state law
PDE began developing the regulations in August 2019. Nearly 2,000 comments from charter schools, school districts, professional organizations, lawmakers and the public were considered as part of the process.
“We appreciate the feedback from our stakeholders and have incorporated recommendations from those comments into the final-form regulations,” said Ortega. “The regulations will benefit our public charter schools by clarifying what is required under the Charter School Law and by providing guidance on their responsibilities to parents, students and taxpayers as public schools.”
Charter schools are public schools funded by taxpayers through school district and state funds. A school district must grant the school a charter before students from the school district may enroll in the charter school. The Pennsylvania Department of Education authorizes cyber charter schools, since they serve the entire state.
There are 179 charter schools and cyber charter schools operating in Pennsylvania this school year. All 67 counties in Pennsylvania have students enrolled in some form of charter school.
The Wolf Administration has been working to address the state’s broken Charter School Law, which is regarded as the worst in the country. The plan to fix the law aims to protect students by holding low performing charter schools accountable, protect taxpayers by reining in skyrocketing charter school costs, and improve the public trust by increasing transparency of for-profit companies that manage some charter schools.
