When Western Pennsylvania's first cyber charter school opened five school years ago, Nick Trombetta -- who was both Midland School District superintendent and head of the new school -- expected only a small number of students.

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Instead, the public charter school started with more than 500 and has grown to nearly 3,000, setting off a statewide phenomenon in the process.

Pennsylvania now has 11 cyber charter schools -- and a 12th has applied for a state charter -- with more than 10,000 students enrolled statewide, an increase of 50 percent over the last school year.

Unlike bricks-and-mortar charter and conventional schools, these schools are not limited by how far parents are willing to drive each day or the distance a school bus travels. Students can attend from anywhere in the state.

With 1.8 million students enrolled in all public schools in Pennsylvania, the cyber school numbers are still just a fraction of all students.

But the impact of the schools is felt in other ways, from the choices available to parents and students to the effect on traditional public schools, which have to pay for the charters and are gearing up more cyber offerings of their own to compete.

"It's changed people's thinking," said Tim Allwein, assistant executive director of the Pennsylvania School Boards Association. "I think at first, school district folks were thinking cyber might not be an effective way to deliver education. I think it's dawned on them it's popular with a lot of people and it does have its uses."

There is no single reason parents and students choose the cyber schools.

Some have tried home schooling but are looking for more academic support and materials. Some students are recovering from an illness, were bullied, disliked peer pressure or are school-phobic. Some are taking a last chance to complete high school, and others are using it to move ahead at their own pace. Some elite athletes and performers travel and need to study wherever they are. Some rural students don't want to spend hours in a school bus. Some want a program designed for them.

But the bottom line is they are looking for something they don't think they can find in a traditional public school.

They might find it in a cyber school, or they might not. Some cyber schools have high turnover rates -- students get well enough to go back to a regular school or they find cyber school requires too much self-discipline or they drop out for many other reasons.

The number of cyber charter schools nationwide has nearly tripled in two years, said Anna Varghese of the Center for Education Reform, a pro-charter school reform group based in Washington, D.C. Nationwide, about 31,000 students are in 86 cyber charter schools, according to the center. In the last school year, 6,885 students were enrolled in cyber charter schools in Pennsylvania, accounting for about 45 percent of all charter school students, according to state figures.

"There's always going to be demand for new alternatives. It's the same with McDonald's and Burger King," Varghese said.

Started through the tiny Midland district, the Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School, which last year removed Western from its name, has grown from a portion of the ground floor of Midland's only open school building to more than a half-dozen buildings in the old steel town as well as an office in Eastern Pennsylvania. It has about 200 employees.

It's now the second-largest cyber charter school in the state, behind the Pennsylvania Virtual Charter School in Norristown, Montgomery County, which has 4,065 students and uses a program developed by former U.S. Education Secretary Bill Bennett.

This is the season when a number of the schools are conducting ad campaigns and recruiting sessions across the state, looking for growth rates beyond the imagination of many traditional schools.

The Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School got an extra burst of publicity last fall that drew inquiring parents after U.S. Sen. Rich Santorum, R-Pa., and Penn Hills squared off over his children's attending the cyber school when some argued his main residence was outside the state.

Some school district officials have complained about cyber charter schools over the years, particularly because districts have to pay the bill -- an amount set by the state -- for their students who attend the schools, even those chartered by another district.

The median fee for districts statewide this school year is $6,874 for a regular student and $13,465 for a special education student. Parents don't pay tuition.

A state law passed in 2002 requires any new cyber charter applications as well as any renewals to be decided by the state Department of Education.

The department is reviewing the renewal application of the Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School, whose five-year charter expires next month, and a new application from the Eastern side of the state, Agora Cyber Charter School.

The same 2002 law says the schools must provide students with a home computer, printer and provide or reimburse parents for online service. They also must use technology to provide a "significant portion" of the curriculum and "to deliver instruction through the Internet or other electronic means."

Beyond that, the schools vary widely, including what curricula are offered, whether live online classes are available, whether students take field trips, whether courses are developed and taught by the school's own teachers or other providers and how much contact students, teachers and parents have.

All require parental commitment -- particularly heavy involvement in the younger years -- although the amount varies.

Even when they use the same curriculum -- several use Calvert, long a staple in the home-schooling community -- they may implement it differently, depending on whether they use their own or the company's teachers, modify the curriculum or offer tutoring and other assistance.

Carolyn Knapp, an Ulster, Bradford County, parent of seven, six of whom have gone to cyber charter schools and the other to a traditional public school, has experience with five different cyber schools. She currently has five children in kindergarten through 11th grade in three cyber charter schools.

The choices have varied in quality, and they've faced problems such as a lack of curriculum and materials.

While some schools have been disappointing, Knapp, who is working on her own cyber proposal, said, "They're definitely an option that has enabled me to still have my children at home with me but yet have them get the curriculum materials and be in the public school."

Jill Buffalini, of Franklin Park, doesn't think cyber charter schools are for everyone, but she is quite pleased with the education her four children are receiving at the Midland school, which her family began using when it opened in 2000.

"I love it," said Buffalini, who trained as a special education teacher. "It sets up a structure where you have accountability, where you have a very structured curriculum, but it also allows you the freedom to do other things your children are interested in."

Like other public schools, cyber charter schools are required to meet the state standards for making adequate yearly progress under the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

Three of the cyber charter schools -- Pennsylvania Leadership, Pennsylvania Distance Learning and Achievement House -- are in their first year, and those results are not yet calculated.

Of the other eight measured by the standards last year, three -- Pennsylvania Virtual, Pennsylvania Cyber and the Central Pennsylvania Digital Learning Foundation -- met the goals.

Two others -- 21st Century Cyber Charter School and Commonwealth Connections -- met the achievement and graduation rate requirements but didn't have at least 95 percent of their students taking the tests. Both had more than 90 percent of their students tested.

While other cyber charter schools charge districts the rate set by the state, the Midwestern Regional Virtual Charter School rate is grandfathered in -- until it comes up for state renewal -- with its charge of $210 a month for 12 months ($2,520 a year) per student, most of whom come from intermediate unit members.

Jill Manczka, director of the Midwestern virtual school, said the school uses some of the intermediate unit's staff and resources but does not have any of its own full-time teachers. It is planning to hire at least four teachers next school year.

The Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School spends more on each student -- $5,575 in 2002-03 -- but still has a favorable balance sheet. Its financial reports for the end of June 2003 showed the school had received $8.9 million in revenue and spent $7.6 million, leaving it a $1.3 million balance.

But Trombetta said the cushion is gone by fall because that money is needed to buy equipment for a rapidly expanding number of students.

Of the cyber schools, Midwestern had the lowest graduation rate -- 3.9 percent -- but Manczka said that varies every year. The school had five graduates last year.

"Kids come in and out so frequently," she said. "Because of the transient nature, it's a really skewed number."

Trombetta, who still maintains his dual jobs as chief executive officer of the Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School and Midland superintendent, sees the next trend as a combination of traditional and cyber schools, with each buying services from the other.

He is negotiating with school districts to sell the districts some of the cyber school's services, such as a needed class a student can't fit in the regular schedule or expanded course offerings.

"That's the future," Trombetta said. "There's going to be a lot more bricks and cyber."