Charter school reform bill advances to Senate By Natasha Lindstrom Calkins Media | Posted: Thursday, September 26, 2013 11:00 pm HARRISBURG — The Pennsylvania House of Representatives advanced legislation this week that would enact a wide range of charter school reforms, from increased oversight to decreased funding. “This legislation brings fair and responsible changes to charter and cyber charter school funding and strengthens provisions regulating these schools, while preserving parental options for our Commonwealth’s students,” House Majority Leader Mike Turzai said Thursday in a statement. But some lawmakers — including those who voted in favor of the extensive reform package — say the bill has flaws they hope get corrected as it makes its way through the Senate. “We had a choice: Either we do nothing, or we make a historic step in fixing the charter school law that hadn’t been done since its inception,” Rep. Jim Christiana, R-15, Beaver, said. House Bill 618, by Rep. Joe Emrick, R-147, Upper Nazareth Township, cleared the House floor Wednesday on a 133-62 vote. The 69-page bill addresses many aspects of charter school regulation, including funding, ethics, accountability, governance and academic quality. The bill aims to erase the so-called pension “double dip” by cyber charter schools, and requires all charter schools to return excess tuition to school districts. Through those stipulations and other funding changes, the bill could save school districts statewide an estimated $150 million over two years. The bill would also create a commission to come up with long-term funding recommendations for charter schools by the end of March. “It is a necessary piece of legislation that reinforces and, in some cases, inserts accountability, ethics, integrity and performance measures into a system hit hard by recent scandal and subsequent federal indictments,” Emrick said. Christiana voted in favor of HB 618 — even though he doesn’t think its pension “double-dip” solution makes mathematical sense. Similarly, the Pennsylvania Coalition of Charter Schools supports the “vast majority” of the bill — especially the transparency measures — but staunchly opposes the changes to pension reimbursements, said Robert Fayfich, the coalition’s executive director. Fayfich acknowledges that both cyber charters and brick-and-mortar charter schools are over-funded in terms of pension reimbursements; currently charter schools schools get 100 percent reimbursement from school districts, plus another 50 percent reimbursement from the state. But rather than correct this overpayment, Fayfich said, HB 618 results in an underpayment to cyber charters. “It’s gone from 150 percent payment to 50 percent,” Fayfich said. “It’s not based on logic, it’s not based on equity. I’m disappointed in the fact it’s not a rational approach to this situation. The only good thing is they have a two-year limitation on it.” Christiana favored amendments that would have instead changed the funding system so that both traditional and cyber charter schools received the same level of reimbursement. “It’s pretty obvious that the pension portion of this bill doesn’t add up,” Christiana said. “The double-dip on the pension should be fixed — the arithmetic in this particular bill is not perfect — but I’m confident that with the Senate taking this bill up now that they can make it even better.” The pension solution in HB 618 only applies to cyber charters, even though both types of charter schools get the “double dip.” Christiana said the bill’s language suggested its proponents were “clearly trying to send a message that they believe cybers are over-funded.” Other local lawmakers who supported HB 618 include: Rep. Jim Marshall, R-14, Big Beaver; Jaret Gibbons, D-10, Franklin Township; and Rob Matzie, D-16, Ambridge. Rep. Jesse White, D-45, Cecil Township, voted it down. The Education Law Center opposed HB 618, arguing it would permit the “unchecked expansion” of charter schools by prohibiting enrollment caps and creating a system where the state supersedes local authority for payments and applications. House Education Committee Chairman Paul Clymer said the bill would not affect a local school district’s authority to approve or renew charter schools or perform oversight functions. HB 618 had the backing of the Pennsylvania Associations of School Business Officials, School Administrators and Rural and Small Schools, the Pennsylvania School Boards Association, the Pennsylvania League of Urban Schools and the Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children. Now the bill moves to the Senate Education Committee, where it will likely be reconciled with another charter school reform package, Senate Bill 1085. Sen. Matt Smith, D-37, Mount Lebanon, said he’s pleased to see the Legislature make the first real attempt at reforms since the charter school law went into effect in 1997. “I’m very happy that movement has started on charter school funding reform because I think it is long overdue,” Smith said. “I haven’t looked at the details of (HB) 618 yet, but I’m very happy that the process is really engaged right now in finding a solution.” Smith said he’d like to see the pension overpayment issue fixed but not “over-corrected.” He also said he’d like to explore the idea of prohibiting public schools from spending taxpayer dollars on advertising. “At the end of the day, I certainly think that cybers and charters should be treated no better or worse than public schools,” Smith said, “and that there should be equity in the funding distribution.” Natasha Lindstrom may be reached at nlindstrom@calkins.
Posted on: Fri, 27 Sep 2013 13:20:17 +0000
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