The state Department of Education has been asked to determine whether U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum and his family are residents of the Penn Hills School District.

After this week's school board meeting, Penn Hills Superintendent Patricia Gennari sent two letters to the state Department of Education, one involving the Republican senator's five children who attended the Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School at district expense.

The other questions the residency of another family with two children who attend the Pennsylvania Virtual Charter school, also at district expense.

The letters question whether Penn Hills should have to pay for their education at the cyber charter schools.

"We have simply filed an objection," said Gennari.

"I'm not suggesting they did anything wrong. We're just raising the question in terms of how they determine residency."

As a result of the Santorum case, the district is in the midst of reviewing the residency of all of the its 149 children who attend cyber and other charter schools. So far, it has found only one family other than the Santorums about which it has questions.

Under state law, the school district in which a student resides must pay a fee to any charter school in the state attended by one of its residents. In Penn Hills, that amounts to $7,551 for each student this school year.

After finding out the district was being billed for the Santorum children, Penn Hills school board member Erin Vecchio, who chairs the Democratic Party in Penn Hills, argued the Santorums do not live in Penn Hills and pushed the district to investigate. During the investigation, the Santorums withdrew their children from the cyber charter school about three weeks ago, saying they would be home-schooled.

Santorum said yesterday that he intends to register the children for home schooling in Penn Hills, where he considers himself a resident.

Santorum said it was "absurd" to conclude he doesn't reside there and that the controversy is politically motivated.

When Santorum first was elected to Congress, he lived in Mt. Lebanon. But Santorum and his wife Karen sold that house in 1995 and purchased one in a Virginia suburb of Washington, D.C., that year. They since have sold that home and purchased another Virginia home assessed at $757,000.

In 1997, the Santorums bought a Penn Hills home -- located next door to Santorum's in-laws -- for $87,800.

In between the Mt. Lebanon and Penn Hills homes, Santorum said yesterday, he listed his Pennsylvania address as the Penn Hills home of his in-laws.

Nick Trombetta, chief executive officer of the Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School, which is based in Midland, Beaver County, said he received a copy of the Dec. 8 letter Penn Hills sent to the state Department of Education questioning payments for the Santorum children in 2003-04 and 2004-05.

Some of the Santorum children, who previously were home schooled, have been enrolled at the cyber school since 2001-02. Until the start of this school year, the bill totaled $67,013. This year would have cost $37,754, but the children attended only for the start of the school year.

The other family's children began attending the other cyber charter school in February this year.

Penn Hills does not pay the cyber school directly. Instead, the state deducts the amounts from its state subsidy. In such cases, the charter school law states that within 30 days after the state secretary makes the deduction, the district may notify the state that the payment was "inaccurate."

Gennari said deductions for 2003-04 and 2004-05 have not been made yet.

Trombetta said he has a copy of a state letter dated Oct. 21 this year giving the district 20 days to object to a state report on the charter school bill or else the payment will be deducted.