A symposium will be held today at UPJ to discuss the adverse affects required cyber school funding has on public schools in the region.
Districts from Indiana, Blair, Cambria, Westmoreland and Somerset counties will take part in the discussion at the John P. Murtha Center this afternoon. Also on the panel is Susan Spika from Ed Voters PA and representatives from the PA School Business Officials organization and others. The main topic will be the need for legislative reform for districts across the commonwealth.
Indiana School District Superintendent Robert Heinrich, one of the organizers of the event, said that for districts in the five-county region, a total of $33 million in taxpayer money is going to cyber charter schools.
One expected topic of discussion is House Bill 1500. Two weeks ago, the bill passed the state house. It would set a standardized tuition rate for cyber charter schools and places caps on their fund balances. The bill would also establish stricter reporting requirements, saying that cyber charter schools would have to adhere to the same requirements for annual budgets, financial statements and construction costs that traditional public schools do. That bill is now before the state Senate Education Committee.
