Went home this past weekend to visit the family and have some older relatives who live close to Midland, PA. Driving through what was once a thriving blue collar steel community is home to a Subway/DQ, a couple of pizza places, a tattoo shop, a few bars, husks of old steel buildings and train tracks along the river (with a stellar view of the nuclear power plant silos in Shippingport), a VFW, American Legion, Serbian Club, a Rite Aid, and the nicest three buildings in the town are two PA Cyber School buildings and the Lincoln Park Performing Arts Charter School. The Lincoln Park school is legit - very well run and free to talented students focused on music/arts/performing arts education (my cousin just got a full ride to WVU for music out of this program). I have no idea what PA Cyber Schools do. Is this 'online' only education? How are they funded/managed? Everything I've read is that they are a disaster/moneysink with their managers/administrators making tons of cash while kids get worse educations than if they didn't go to school at all. Are these popular in depressed/poor areas? What is the oversight? Are these run by the commonwealth?Driving through Midland is depressing - it has great bones and could be a wonderful, walkable town (for retirees like my relatives) but it's full of unsupervised teens doing who the hell knows what (tried to get gas one day and had to just leave because a bunch of kids were loitering at the gas station screaming, 'I just n*tted in that girl righ there - I didn't wear a condom! I need to go get checked!' - high as a kite; had to get my kids out of there).
Anyway, Beaver County still has the best flavored wings I've ever had. Hot Honey Mustard from Kendrew's FTW.
I'll take a stab at most of theses questions. Pertaining to PA Cyber Charter not the LPPACC (except where I referencebrick and mortar)...
Is this 'online' only education? Yes, but they can have in-person sites for tutoring, but in-person attendance is not required (I do not think it can be except for testing).
How are they funded/managed? They are funded by the school district where the student lives. There is a formula to determine the amount and it differs for each district (there are 500 school districts in PA). But basically if the district has an education budget, not actual expenses, of $10M and has 1,000 students and one of those students enrolls in a charter school, the charter school invoices the district for $10k. If the district doesn't pay the amount is withheld by the state from any subsidy the district would receive. Based on this formula, when the operational costs are determined cyber charters should be very "profitable". Approximately $1B in payments are made to cyber charter schools each year from all the PA districts combined.
Everything I've read is that they are a disaster/moneysink with their managers/administrators making tons of cash while kids get worse educations than if they didn't go to school at all. This is not inaccurate for most cases, except for the education provided is probably better than no education.
Are these popular in depressed/poor areas? Yes, brick and morter charters are particularly popular in the Phily area (I think there is a lottery to determine enrollment), cyber charter enrollments are not as divided by economic circumstances and the reasons for attending vary. Politically, charter schools in PA have two groups that support them, those that support school choice and those that represent Philadelphia (but the Phily reps are quick to point out brick and morter charters are not the same as cyber charters)
What is the oversight? The cyber charters are authorized at the state level, brick and morter at the local school district level. Every 3 or so years there is a review of the school. It has been about 15 years and I do not think a cyber charter has been closed for any reason by the state (there may have been 1 or 2, but I do not recall them. there are less than 2 dozen cyber charter schools in PA).
Are these run by the commonwealth? No, they are run by not-for-profit organizations. They have boards, but for the most part (outside of the charter renewal process) there is little oversight by the Commonwealth.
