March 7, 2010
Dear Families,
It seems school districts are busy blaming cybers again for their financial issues. This time it is the districts within Northampton County. I have included the article fromt he Easton Express-Times below. They had a three articles regarding our cyber schools. Below are links to each of the articles. We were pleased to also be able to have an op-ed appear yesterday in response. I have included the op-ed below.
These articles are another example of the misconceptions regarding our schools. The reporter refers to our schools as private schools that are funded by tax dollars. Our schools are public schools and are held to the same accountability as their traditional brick and mortar counterparts.
Again, school districts are using PSSA scores as a basis for not wanting to fund cyber education. What the districts and the article fail to mention is that most children who come from their home district into our public cyber schools they are generally one to two grade levels behind. If the same standards were used for cyber schools as they use for brick and mortar schools, then most of the cybers would have made AYP!
Also quoted in the article is Rep. Karen Beyer. According to the article, Rep. Beyer again wants to introduce her anti-cyber legislation, which is designed to kill our cyber schools. Her bill would slash the funding for our schools and would force many of them to close their virtual doors. We cannot let this happen! We must protect our schools. Let's not let Karen Beyer and her supporters define our public cyber schools for the general public.
Once again we are calling on you to do two things. First we need to write, call, fax or visit your local legislator and also Rep. Karen Beyer, and tell them to reject any attempts to cut funding to our children's public schools. Secondly, we need you to write to this paper and tell them how cyber schools have helped your children. You can send your letters to http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/opinion/sendaletter/
The impression left by these types of articles is public cyber schools exist for the benefit of others - not the taxpaying families who simply believe their children are better served through cyber schools. We must respond to every article that cast out schools in an unfair light!
Thank you for helping us protect our schools!
Keep moving forward!
Cindy Strausburger
President
Links for articles:
Story 1 of 3: Click here
Story 2 of 3: Click here Story 3 of 3: Click here Our response: Cyber Schools a success story in Pa.
In response to the Express-Times' recent series on public cyber charter schools: Cybers are public schools that are free for all families and are covered by the state’s Sunshine Law. When a child leaves to attend a cyber, the district keeps 28% on its per pupil payment from the state and then receives an additional subsidy of up to 30% of its costs. That means school districts receive well over 50% of its per pupil payment for essentially doing nothing.
Bangor Area School Board President Joseph Boyle certainly should know that all audits and budgets of cybers are a matter of public record, as are their annual reports. They are there if school boards want to look at them.
The Times concluded that performance standards strongly suggest the money being spent at cybers would be better spent in Northampton County school districts. This indicates a failure to understand how AYP works.
For example, if Bangor were evaluated as a cyber, it would not make AYP. Conversely, if cybers were evaluated as a district, many would have attained AYP. It’s easier for districts to attain AYP than cyber schools, since students in only one grade span need to attain the required minimum test scores. Cybers must meet the requirement in all grades.
Despite this advantage, three of Bangor’s five schools individually did not make AYP for 2008-09, including the high school and the middle school. The Domenick DeFranco Elementary School is in Corrective Action II status, a status worse than all but one cyber school.
Cybers face unique challenges in meeting AYP. Some schools have as many as 65% of their students from low-income households (vs. 34% of Bangor’s students). More than one-third of their students come from districts that didn’t attain AYP and many new students are one or more grade levels behind because their districts failed them. Cybers typically get less than nine months to prepare these students for the PSSA test.
It should be noted the closing of Einstein Academy, the state’s first cyber, shows the system worked. A school failed to produce, and it was closed. That’s should be a refreshing thought for taxpayers.
Maybe it’s time for critics like state Rep. Karen Beyer and other state legislators to hold district schools to the same standard. After all, 21% of these schools statewide failed to make AYP, yet none of them have been closed, reconstituted or returned money to taxpayers for their poor performance.
That kind of performance is disappointing when you consider how much money has been spent on public education since Gov. Ed Rendell took office. Despite your assertion that state subsidies have “wilted,” Gov. Rendell recently stated in his final budget address that his biggest accomplishment is increasing funding for education by over $3 billion and has proposed a $354 million basic education formula increase for 2010-11.
After all of the criticism public cyber school suffered in your series, one might think these schools are grabbing the lion’s share of this. In truth, cybers account for far less than 1 percent of all public school funding. Pennsylvania taxpayers should see cybers for what they are: Great bargains that provide a tremendous public education for children of all different backgrounds at a fraction of the price.
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