$4 Billion of Tax dollars spent on PA. charter schools with little oversight and few results

[JPZenger]

http://keystonestateeducationcoalition.blogspot.com/2012/05/pa-charter-schools-4-billion-taxpayer.html

This essay looks at the numbers behind charter schools in PA. The whole piece is worth reading, but here are some excerpts:

"The Proposed statewide authorization and direct payment would further diminish accountability and oversight for public tax dollars.

0 of 12 - Of 12 PA cyber charters zero made Annual Yearly Progress for 2012; only 2 made AYP for 2011, while 8 were in corrective action status under No Child Left Behind and 7 have never made AYP.

17% - A 2009 Stanford University/CREDO study ... looked at charter performance covering more than 70 percent of the nation’s charter school students. It found that only 17% of charters had academic gains better than traditional public schools; 37% were worse and 46% showed no significant difference. A 2011 Stanford/CREDO study found that in 100 percent of Pennsylvania cyber charters, students performed “significantly worse” in math and reading than students at traditional public schools.

18 - Philadelphia charter schools are reportedly under federal investigation. Several charters have involvement of legislators, family members and staffers.

$10,145- PA cybercharter average cost per student of $10,145 was $3500 more than the national average of $6500.

19,298 - According to minutes from a 2012 Agora Cyber Charter School board meeting, our Paa tax dollars paid for 19,298 local TV commercials. And that's just for TV ads - these's no mention of radio, print or ubiquitous internet ads in that total.

$27,000 - What a representative school district is required to pay in tuition to a cyber charter for each and every special education student (unlike traditional public schools whose special education funding by the state is capped at 16% of students, there is no special ed cap for charter schools)."

From John Cole of the Scranton Times-Tribune: