Moratorium sought on new charter schools
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Jack Wagner, the state auditor general
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State Auditor General Jack Wagner is calling for a statewide moratorium on the creation of new charter schools, including cyber charter schools, saying the way charter schools are funded is flawed.
Supporters of charter schools, however, say such a move would be counterproductive.
Mr. Wagner issued a report Tuesday that said a better funding system for charter schools can be developed. He said that right now the money is not connected to the cost of educating children, which he said results in "costing taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars a year in additional questionable spending."
He said: "With Pennsylvania still mired in its greatest economic downturn since the Great Depression, we can't afford to be wasting precious financial resources on schools whose costs have absolutely no basis whatsoever on what is actually needed to educate our children."
Jeremy Resnick, executive director and founder of Propel Schools, which has more than 2,000 students and plans to expand, noted Mr. Wagner's news release calls charter schools a "positive force in education reform."
"Given the needs in the community and the pace at which those needs are being addressed, the last thing we need is a moratorium on something that is a positive force for education in the community," Mr. Resnick said.
Guy Ciarrocchi, executive director of the Pennsylvania Coalition of Public Charter Schools, said he was "thunderstruck" by the proposal.
Noting there are 30,000 students on waiting lists for charter schools statewide, Mr. Ciarrocchi said a moratorium would "wreak havoc and penalize kids and families looking for choice and penalize the schools that by and large are working."
Charter schools are public schools. Parents do not pay tuition, but the home districts of each student must pay a fee set by the state.
First Published October 6, 2010 12:00 am
