|
 |
| Media Alert - It's time for parents to respond to attack! |
March 31, 2010
Dear Families,
While we are all enjoying our Spring break, it seems the Warrior Run School Board is still insisting our public cyber schools are private. In a recent Letter to the Editor which ran in the Daily Item, they also claim that our schools are charging "2 to 3 times higher" than their cost to educate a child in their district. These are statements are simply not fair or truthful!
It is statements like these that we need to respond to with facts! As we all know, our schools are PUBLIC schools. Public cyber schools are run by independent non-profit boards. Our schools are held to the same accountability as any other public school. Plus they have to meet our standards as well.
Our schools only receive 80% of what the sending district spends and then the districts receive a reimbursement of approximately 30%. Our schools are able to educate our children more effectively and save districts money in the process.
Public school district officials always seem to forget one important fact: The funding they receive isn't their money. It's our money, and as parents, Pennsylvania's cyber school law rightly allows us to decide how it should be spent.
We cannot let these outrageous claims go without a response! These unflattering and unfair portraits must be countered by the substance of what our children experience every day as public cyber school students. We need to continue to respond to this and every story casting our schools in an unfair negative light.
Please write and call the Daily Item and let them know the truth about our public cyber schools! You can call them at 570-286-5671 and you can send your letters to jfinnerty@dailyitem.com
Thank you for helping to protect our schools!
Keep moving forward!
Cindy Strausburger
President
Uneven playing field
March 29, 2010
A letter in Friday’s paper took issue with Warrior Run School District superintendent Daniel Shaeffer for his assertion that the money paid to cyber schools by the district is “public money, and we should have control of it.” I would like to clarify Mr. Shaeffer’s remark and explain the position of the Warrior Run school board regarding cyber schools and school choice.
Mr. Shaeffer and the board are very concerned about the costs being imposed upon the taxpayers of our district by the state requirement that we pay whatever tuition a cyber school charges. This tuition often is 2 to 3 times higher than our cost to educate a student. We also have experience with cyber programs offered through Warrior Run and know that we can provide a program for much less money than the private schools charge.
The school board is the steward of the tax monies paid by Warrior Run residents. As such, we should have some control of it and be able to spend it to provide the best education possible for our children at the most reasonable cost.
State law imposes an unfair burden on our residents, because we must take extra money from the budget without any input from the voters or control by the board. That extra money results in the loss of services for the students who attend our schools or requires more taxes. Local taxpayers are subsidizing private schools that are not even located in our area, and all that money disappears from our local economy.
Mr. Shaeffer and the board have no objection to private cyber schools or the concept of school choice and welcome the competition. In fact, we are excited by the promises of well-run cyber schools.
We simply believe in a level playing field. The board has instructed Mr. Shaeffer to work to develop a cyber school program in cooperation with neighboring school districts that will meet the specific needs of each district and also broaden the range of subjects that can be taught so that students in all districts can enjoy a much richer educational experience.
This program can also save our taxpayers significant money.
Given fair tuition reimbursement rules for private schools and our excellent teachers, we can confidently say “bring it on” to private cyber schools.
Lyle Horn,
Watsontown
Lyle Horn is vice president of the Warrior Run school board.
|
|
