House committee hears competing proposals to change cyber charter tuition; governor proposes $8,000 cap

Lawmakers and witnesses at a House Education Committee hearing in Stroudsburg on cyber charter governance spent much of the session debating how the Commonwealth should pay for cyber charter schooling and whether the current per-pupil payments are equitable.

The most concrete proposal discussed was Governor Josh Shapiro's 2025-26 budget suggestion to limit local district payments to cyber charters to a flat $8,000 per regular-education pupil. "The rate is based on cyber's estimated actual costs and would save districts millions of dollars," said Maura McInerney, legal director of the Education Law Center (ELC), who testified in favor of the cap and said ELC also supports a tiered special-education rate that would align payments with the costs of serving students with different disability needs.

Why it matters: Witnesses and legislators said the current system drives large, uneven tuition payments because cyber charter tuition is calculated from the sending district's per-pupil spending. "Per pupil tuition rates also vary widely for students who are educated in cyber charters because it depends on the tuition rate of the district that they are coming from," McInerney testified, citing a range offered in written testimony for recent years as roughly $8,917 to $23,799 per pupil. Committee members said the wide variation is a central cause of local budget pressure and calls for statewide reform.

Key details and disputes

- Flat-rate proposal: McInerney told the committee that ELC supports the governor's proposed $8,000 statewide rate for district payments to cyber charters. She said the figure reflects an attempt to align payments with typical cyber operating costs rather than a brick-and-mortar cost model.

- Special education: McInerney recommended extending the same tiered special-education funding that districts use to cyber charters. "We should direct dollars based on student costs of the students that they are serving," she said, arguing that current flat special-education allotments to charters create incentives to enroll lower-cost students.

- Scale and revenue: Jonathan Sciota, business administrator for 20 First Century Cyber Charter School, said cyber students made up roughly 3.84% of statewide public enrollment in 2023-24 (about 60,000 students) and that cyber tuition accounts for about 3.14% of district revenue. "Some communities have higher cyber enrollment, and that creates more financial strain," he said, urging policy that reflects local differences rather than one-size-fits-all rules.

- Fund balances: Committee members noted conflicting figures about cyber charter fund balances cited in testimony. McInerney referenced research suggesting charter fund balances are higher than district balances; other participants cited larger per-pupil fund-balance differences. Lawmakers asked witnesses to reconcile those numbers in follow-up materials.

What witnesses asked lawmakers to do

- ELC and others asked the General Assembly to enact a statewide cap (the $8,000 proposal was repeatedly cited) and to adopt the same tiered special-education reimbursement that applies to school districts.

- Some school district leaders said a single statewide cap would be administrable and could immediately reduce the tuition pressure on underfunded districts; Stroudsburg Area School District Superintendent Cosmos Curry said an $8,000 cap would save his district several million dollars a year.

Responses and cautions

- Cyber charter representatives warned that deep cuts could have unintended consequences for students who rely on cyber options. Jonathan Sciota said the sector serves a higher share of economically disadvantaged and nonwhite students than commonly recognized and that abrupt funding reductions could harm those students.

- Several representatives and witnesses urged that fiscal reform be accompanied by accountability measures so that any savings are redirected into instruction or returned to taxpayers rather than absorbed as administrative savings.

Ending

Committee members asked staff to collect clearer comparative cost data from school districts and cyber providers before drafting legislation. Lawmakers emphasized the goal articulated repeatedly in the hearing: to design a funding approach that aligns payments with actual instructional costs, treats special-education needs consistently, and reduces budgetary surprises for sending districts.