Rachel Langan: Fully funded public education must include cyber charters

When a parent says that a public school isn’t what it used to be, the implication is usually bad.

But for Brenda Jesky, a Latrobe mother of three, that’s not the case.

Her daughter Maddy — who has high-functioning autism — struggled with learning in both public and private traditional schools. Choosing Agora Cyber Charter School three years ago was the family “game-changer.”

“If you told me before Agora that Maddy would be graduating in 2025, I would have thought you were crazy,” says Jesky. “The path with brick-and-mortar school would have most likely had her dropping out at age 16. But here we are, on track for graduation.”

Or so they hoped.

Gov. Josh Shapiro and state lawmakers wanted to slash funding to $8,000 per pupil for cyber charter students. Meanwhile, these same politicians want to deliver historic funding increases to district schools that already receive nearly $22,000 per student and sit on $6.8 billion in reserve funds.

Fortunately, the drastic cuts to cyber charters didn’t happen in this year’s budget.

Unfortunately, cyber charters didn’t benefit from the new budget, either. Lawmakers adjusted the funding formula that determines how much money schools receive for special education. With the new formula, cyber charters will receive nearly $35 million less than last year.

Such cuts may seem minimal but tremendously impact cyber charters’ ability to support students like Maddy.

“Schools like Agora finally take kids like Maddy out of a box so they can learn properly,” says Jesky. “Why would you want to push them back into that box?”

Pennsylvania cyber charter schools are taxpayer-funded public schools that enroll about 57,000 students — many with special needs and learning differences. According to the U.S. Department of Education, students requiring Individualized Education Plans (IEPs) are 27 times more likely to enroll in a cyber charter due to the exceptional flexibility and individualized education they provide.

For students with autism and learning differences, traditional in-person learning can be a sensory overload.

Maddy is one of those students. After trying other alternatives (including homeschooling and a private school), she found her cyber charter school. Teachers and staff took the time to get to know her personally and designed an IEP that Maddy finds challenging and fun.

Maddy is also a champion gymnast. Last year, she won the all-around title in her division.

The school affords Maddy the flexibility she needs to compete. Her teachers have created a schedule that accommodates her daily practices, travel and competitions. In addition to winning medals, Maddy earns A’s and B’s and participates in the National Honor Society.

Maddy’s ability to balance school and gymnastics — while navigating the challenges of autism — is better than anything the Jesky family could have imagined for their daughter.

Public school isn’t what it used to be. And that’s because, instead of being forced to attend a traditional neighborhood school, students have more options. Charter schools can meet their needs in a way their local schools don’t.

For some Pennsylvania students, cyber charter schools are their only alternative. In 87% of Pennsylvania school districts, cyber charters are the only public alternative to the local district school.

But if Shapiro and others got their way, these public schools will receive less money to do more. Meanwhile, school districts continue receiving more money to do less.

Cyber schools are public schools, and all students deserve equal treatment. Legislators who advocate for more public school funding while calling for cuts to public cyber charters are, at best, hypocrites. Cutting funding to cyber charter students violates the Commonwealth Court’s ruling that Pennsylvania must fund public schools in a way that gives all students a “meaningful opportunity to succeed.”

Pennsylvania lawmakers must stop treating Maddy and other cyber students like second-class citizens. Cutting cyber charter school funding is tantamount to the two-tiered education system that perpetuates inequality.

Despite what critics claim, fully funded public education must always include cyber charter schools. Anything less means disrupting the education of thousands of students, like Maddy, who found success outside of the traditional brick-and-mortar pathway.

Rachel Langan is senior education policy analyst at the Commonwealth Foundation.