Additionally, Gov. Wolf said he will implement “comprehensive charter school reform through executive action, regulation and legislation.” The changes will level the playing field for all taxpayer-funded public schools…”
Executive action
The Governor ordered the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) to develop regulations to:
- Allow school districts to limit student enrollment at charter schools that do not provide a high-quality, equitable education to students.
- Require transparent charter school admission and enrollment policies that do not discriminate based on intellectual or athletic ability, race/ethnicity, gender, or disability, among other student characteristics.
- Hold charter schools and their operators to the same transparency standards as school districts since they are receiving over $1.8 billion in funding annually
- Require that charter school Board of Trustees and operating companies are free from conflict of interests. Prohibit them from making decisions that provide financial incentives to themselves, friends, and/or family members.
- Require charter schools to use sound fiscal management, provide regular financial audits to state regulators, publicly bid contracts for supplies and services, use fair contracting practices, and engage their communities.
- Provide greater oversight over charter school management companies.
- Establish a model state application to start a new charter school or renew an existing charter school.
- Establish a clear process that requires charters to accurately document their costs.
- Prevent charters from over charging districts and taxpayers for the educational services they provide.
- Initiate a fee-for-service model to cover the department’s costs associated with implementing the charter school law.
- Recoup taxpayer costs for thousands of hours of currently free services that the Department provides to charter schools.
Comprehensive Charter School Reform Legislation
Gov. Wolf is proposing comprehensive charter school reform legislation that will:
- Establish performance standards that hold charter schools accountable for the educational outcomes of students and a moratorium on new cyber charter schools
- Cap student enrollment in low performing cyber charter schools until outcomes improve.
- Require charter management companies be subject to the Right to Know Act, State Ethics Act, and post employee salaries on PDE’s website, similar to requirements already in place for public school districts.
- Create fair, predictable, and equitable funding for school districts, including in the areas of special education funding and cyber charter tuition payments.
- Establish a charter school funding commission to make recommendations on additional charter school funding reforms.
