State Senate considers charter school regs
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HARRISBURG -- A proposal to update the state's rules for charter and cyber schools could bring more oversight to those institutions, but critics said Thursday that it still wouldn't resolve issues with how those schools are funded.
Among provisions to lift enrollment caps and disclose more school data, the measure from Senate Education Committee Chairman Jeffrey Piccola, R-Dauphin, also would create an independent state commission to regulate and authorize charter schools.
Currently, a local school board can accept or reject a proposed charter school, with an appeals process run through the state Department of Education. Agency officials said they support "streamlining" those charter applications through a state panel, while giving local boards the option of continuing to run that process.
While some senators at Thursday's committee hearing also said they support that change, Sen. Daylin Leach, D-Montgomery, questioned whether a state panel would take into consideration whether a district could afford to have a portion of its funding directed instead to the charter school.
"It's not the district's money," replied Amy Morton, executive deputy secretary for the Department of Education. "One reason parents want to send their students to a charter instead may be because the money is not being spent properly."
Mr. Leach noted that the seven-member commission would be made up of three appointees by the governor and one selected by each of the legislative caucuses, stacking it in favor of the party holding the governor's office.
If the governor and his appointees support creating more charters, applicants would be likely to bypass the local boards and go directly to the state board for approval, said Sen. Jim Ferlo, D-Highland Park.
Supporters, such as Stephen Catanzarite, managing director of the Lincoln Park Performing Arts Center in Midland, which hosts a charter school, said the change would help standardize the approval process. He pointed to attempts to locate another charter institution in Beaver County, and the two rejections the local district has issued on the Baden Academy application despite complimenting its proposed curriculum.
First Published August 26, 2011 12:00 am
