Dear families,

Rep. Karen Beyer will once again try to push another anti-cyber school bill in front of the House Education Committee this week where she has called for the passage of an amendment that would essentially gut cyber schools and closer their doors.

The hearing is taking place Wednesday in Harrisburg.  Rep. Beyer has changed her legislation considerably and is attempting to have it passed without any public input.  So much for parents having a say in their public education of their children!

Well, it's not too late to have our voices heard!

Contact your legislators and let them know we oppose Rep. Beyer's legislation -- and any effort that will take away the best option for educating our children!

We have a complete list of General Assembly contact information, including e-mail addresses, on our website under Useful Links.  Check it out at  www.pacyberfamilies.org.

It seems this most recent version of her legislation takes its cue from a study on school costs.

One of the recommendations is a flat rate for public cyber schools, supposedly saving $25 million. How the Department of Education arrived at the figure is a mystery.   The flat rate Education Secretary Gerald Zahorchak has endorsed would effectively close down our schools.

As most of you know, a separate study found that Pennsylvania public schools are significantly underfunded.  In light of such information, the move to cut public cyber school funding appears even more ludicrous since school districts get to keep more than 40 percent of the per pupil allocation for a student even though they do not have to educate cyber students.  The state then kicks in more money to bring that total to well over 50 percent.  In other words, school districts get to keep half of the money for doing nothing.

From the beginning, we have asked for fair and adequate funding.  Once again, Rep. Beyer and her special interest friends seem to have no problem with our children being cheated out of a good public education.

Once we hear what happens at the committee hearing, we will report back to you asap! If and when we need another show of force in Harrisburg, we will put out the call.

Telling our side

There's been a lot of news coverage of these studies and I was lucky enough to explain our position in The York Dispatch. Too often, our point of view does not  make it into the news accounts.  The article was fair and I appreciate being given the opportunity to comment. I have included the full story below.

Stay tuned and stay energized!

Jenny Bradmon, president
 
 

York Dispatch (PA)
 
Private school busing targeted as a way to trim districts' costs
 
CHRISTINA KAUFFMAN The York Dispatch
Article Last Updated: 11/28/2007 10:43:23 AM EST

Public school districts are required to bus private school students outside school district boundaries, but that would change if state lawmakers follow through on cost-saving recommendations.
The recently released recommendations -- targeted at school districts and the state -- are the result of about a year of research conducted by the Task Force on School Cost Reduction, a 13-member panel that legislators created under Act 1 of 2006. The panel was directed to find ways to reduce costs to school districts and publish a report.

School officials said they already employ some of the recommendations, including sharing services and buying health insurance through a conglomeration.

But some of the recommendations would necessitate changes in state rules that are costing school districts money.

One such recommendation is the panel's idea to eliminate the requirement that school districts bus students to private schools as far as 10 miles outside school district boundaries.

The panel estimated that changing the requirement to bus only inside school district boundaries could save some districts up to $1.5 million a year in transportation costs.

Area school districts spend hundreds of thousands of dollars per year busing students to private schools such as York Catholic or Christian School of York.

Favors change: "It didn't think it was fair when (the state first required it), and I don't think it's fair today," said Richard Eicher, assistant to the superintendent for business affairs in York Suburban. "It's an unreasonable assignment to the public school districts."

He said he thinks that busing private school students to private schools inside school district boundaries is even "above and beyond" what school districts should be required to do.

He said Suburban spends $300,000 per year on transporting private school students, but he's not sure how many of the students are bused outside the school district.

Other area school districts also spend thousands to transport private school students.

Southern York business manager Wayne McCullough said Southern transports about 40 students to different schools at a cost of about $80,000 per year.

Two-way argument: The Red Lion Area School District spends more than $400,000 per year to bus 368 students to several private schools.

The list of schools includes three Amish schools and Harford Christian in Maryland, which falls within the state's 10-mile rule, said business manager Terry Robinson.

Robinson said he sees both sides of the argument for busing private school students.

On one hand, that's $400,000 per year Red Lion could spend on its own public school students. On the other hand, people who send their children to private schools are still paying property taxes and could argue they deserve to receive some type of service in return for that money, he said.

Christian School of York spokeswoman Kim Martin said parents often comment that they have to pay property taxes to the public school system but they also pay tuition.

"And (transportation) is the only way those tax dollars that they pay ever serve them," she said.

A change to the state rule would be "tragic" to the school, which enrolls 360 students in preschool through 12th grade, Martin said.

"It would be tragic because we highly depend on that transportation, and I know our families do, too," she said. "I would think due to inconvenience our enrollment would drop significantly. We would need to do something ... I don't even know really if we would increase tuition and send buses out because there is a shortage of bus drivers."

She said private schools such as CSY are needed for parents who want an alternative for their children.

"So much is tolerated in the public school, and it's not what we want to be teaching our children," she said.

With faith and the Bible removed from the public school system, private schools are the only alternative, she said.

Flat tuition rate?

Another of the panel's recommendations calls for the state to create a flat tuition rate for cyber charter schools. School districts currently pay tuition to the Internet schools using a state formula based on how much it would cost the school district to educate the students.

Many school officials have been saying for years that the tuition rate is unfair -- and that they probably aren't getting their money's worth from the online schools.

South Western business manager Jeff Mummert said he would support a flat tuition rate for cyber charter schools -- if it's less than the $7,700 per student the school district pays per year.

"What I think should happen is that we should be paying for the true costs (of the cyber school educating the student)," he said. "Instead, we're paying based on what it would cost the school district to educate students."

Eicher said Suburban pays $9,455 per student in cyber school tuition each year.

"I'm not sure anyone's getting their money's worth," he said of cyber schools. "I think the formula that was put together ... is extremely skewed and overcharges school districts, particularly for these Internet schools."

Cybers need funding: Jenny Bradmon, president of Pennsylvania Families for Public Cyber Schools, has two children who attend cyber schools. She said some traditional schools don't like the competition of cyber schools, which offer the same services as a school district but through a different delivery system. Cyber charter schools must meet the same requirements as traditional schools, at a comparable cost, she said.

Bradmon said she isn't opposed to a flat tuition rate for cyber schools, as long as it's "fair and adequate." Some proposed legislation that calls for a flat rate -- around $5,850 per student per year for Bradmon's school -- would be too little, she said.

"If it would cut services that children are receiving in cyber schools, it's not fair or adequate," she said. "And if it causes the schools to close, it's not fair or adequate."