Gov. Tom Wolf on Tuesday pledged executive action and called for an overhaul of Pennsylvania’s charter school law to increase accountability for the schools, which have long been a source of controversy.
At a news conference at a school in Allentown, Mr. Wolf said he would direct the state Department of Education to change regulations for charters, including tightening ethics standards, allowing school districts to limit enrollment at charters that don’t provide a “high-quality” education, and instituting fees for services the state provides charter schools.
Mr. Wolf also said he would push to revise Pennsylvania’s charter law, which he called “one of the most fiscally irresponsible laws in the nation."
“I want to create a level playing field for all taxpayer-funded public schools," Mr. Wolf said, and “increase the accountability and quality of the charter school system."
Describing charter schools as increasingly costly to school districts, and some — particularly cyber charters — as poor performing, Mr. Wolf said the current system “isn’t good for anyone.”
While Mr. Wolf listed a number of areas where he said he would revise state regulations, he didn’t detail exactly how the changes would work.
Of his proposal, for instance, to increase oversight of charter management companies, which are privately run, Mr. Wolf said he would ensure the state is "doing everything to make sure they’re as transparent, accountable and high quality as we can make them.”
As for his call to update the charter law, Mr. Wolf, a Democrat, would need the support of Republican legislative leaders. They generally have been supportive of charters, which they see as needed alternatives to district-run schools.
“We have been talking about charter school reform since I became governor. And my actions today are the result of the fact that we haven’t really done anything. So I’m going to do something, and hopefully this will be the start of a conversation,” Mr. Wolf said after the news conference.
The Pennsylvania Coalition of Public Charter Schools quickly criticized Mr. Wolf’s proposal, saying the governor didn’t consult any charter school leaders. It said the governor was “abusing his authority” in proposing certain regulatory changes, including his plan to charge charters for services provided by the state.
Nathan Benefield, vice president of the conservative Commonwealth Foundation think tank, said in a statement that Mr. Wolf’s proposal “would cut funding for charters, cap enrollment, and place a moratorium on new cyber charter schools, even as tens of thousands of students are on waiting lists for charter schools across the state. In short, it would deny families the schooling options they seek."
Tina Chekan, CEO of Propel Schools, which runs many charter schools in the Pittsburgh area, said the package of reforms “falls far short of creating a level playing field for public charter schools.”
“For instance, tax dollars do not belong to traditional public schools. This funding is meant for one thing — to educate students,” Ms. Chekan said. “Education funding should be allocated in an equitable way to follow each student. This will allow families to choose a school that serves their needs rather than simply be told which school they must attend.
She said she’d like to see the governor call all stakeholders to the table to find “equitable solutions.”
“His plan announced today is detrimental to all students and families who have exercised their right to choose a public education that best fits their students’ needs,” Ms. Chekan added.
But Mr. Wolf — who said during the news conference that “there are charter schools out there doing an excellent job” — drew a favorable response from some Republican lawmakers.
“Quite frankly, I find it encouraging,” state Rep. Curt Sonney, R-Erie, who chairs the House Education Committee, said in an interview Tuesday. “I agree it’s long overdue."
Mr. Sonney said he planned to soon introduce cyber charter reform legislation, though he did not know whether House leadership would support it.
In the Senate, Appropriations Committee Chairman Pat Browne, R-Lehigh, called for a special session on charter school funding, saying the issue had “reached a crisis point."
Pennsylvania’s charter school funding formula, passed into law in 1997, was “the best available platform at that time,” Mr. Browne said in a statement. “However, now it has created an irreconcilable financial conflict between charter and traditional schools which mandates both in-depth review and responsible legislative and executive action to address.”
Pittsburgh Public Schools Superintendent Anthony Hamlet said in a statement issued Wednesday by the district that he was encouraged by the governor’s proposal.
“For a number of years, Pittsburgh Public Schools has been sharing our concerns with the general assembly regarding the need for critical modifications to Pennsylvania’s charter school law. We are encouraged by the Governor’s plan to level the playing field between charters and traditional public schools,” Mr. Hamlet said.
“Regardless of which schools our children attend, we want all children to have access to the best education possible, in the most equitable manner,” PPS school board president Lynda Wrenn said in a statement. “This means holding every school — traditional public schools, brick and mortar charter schools and cyber charters — to same high standards. Gov. Wolf’s proposal, requiring greater oversight and accountability regarding academics, enrollment and accessibility is an attempt to make sure all schools are doing their best to provide high quality education to our students.”
Under the charter law, school districts fund charter schools based on enrollment. Costs for charter schools have become one of the main cost drivers for school districts, along with pension contributions and special education services.
Districts pay charter schools one rate for regular education students, and another for special education students. The rate is the same regardless of the severity of the charter student’s disability — a policy that critics argue incentivizes charters to enroll students with less costly disabilities.
On Tuesday, Mr. Wolf said the state would change its regulations to “provide greater oversight of charter school admissions practices, helping to eliminate the selection of students based on financial remuneration they receive from the state, or based on gender, disability, race or socioeconomic background.”
Charter schools have a large presence in cities like Philadelphia, where about one-third, or 70,000 of the city’s 200,000 public school students attend charters.
Joyce Wilkerson, president of the Philadelphia school board, said the state charter law “is outdated and repeatedly ranked as one of the worst in the country. We commend the governor for stepping up to the plate on this critical issue.”
The issue isn’t limited to urban areas. Districts across the state pay for students to attend cyber charter schools and at the same rate as brick-and-mortar charters. Pennsylvania has one of the country’s largest cyber-charter school sectors, and researchers have repeatedly flagged the schools’ poor performance on tests.
Mr. Wolf on Tuesday cited a June report by Stanford University’s Center for Research on Education Outcomes, which described the performance of the state’s cyber charters as “overwhelmingly negative."
While the law tasks school districts with authorizing brick-and-mortar charter schools, Pennsylvania’s Department of Education has oversight over cyber charters.
Yet, Mr. Wolf’s administration has allowed most of the state’s cyber charters to operate with expired charter agreements.
Asked after the news conference why the state had not acted to renew or end those agreements, Mr. Wolf said, “That’s a good question. I’ll get you a specific answer on that." He said the education department was responsible for those decisions.
Mr. Wolf also hasn’t named new members to the state Charter Appeals Board, which decides appeals from charters rejected by school districts, and which is populated by appointees of former Gov. Tom Corbett, all serving expired terms.
Mr. Wolf said Tuesday that “I would love to do that.” But the board requires Senate confirmation, and “absent an agreement with the Senate Republicans … I can’t make appointments.”
Maddie Hanna: mhanna@inquirer.com
First Published: August 13, 2019, 11:04 p.m.
