Robert Benjamin Wiley Charter School urges Erie board to raise enrollment cap

Representatives of the Robert Benjamin Wiley Community Charter School asked the Erie City School District Board during public comment to approve an increase to the school’s enrollment cap so the charter can admit more students from its waiting lists.

The request matters because Wiley serves predominantly low‑income students and school leaders say the charter has demand that the district’s current cap does not allow it to meet. The school is asking for an eventual increase of 100 students to be phased in at 25 students per year.

Carla, who identified herself as a representative of Robert Benjamin Wiley Community Charter School, told the board that Wiley has operated for 27 years under an understanding with the district to “work along with Erie School District to collaboratively do what’s best for kids.” She said Wiley’s student population is 96% economically disadvantaged, about 13% in special education and 6% homeless, and that about half the school’s students are Black and one‑fifth Hispanic. “We want to have a collaborative, talking about the cap increase, a mutual agreement,” Carla said during public comment (first public comment at 18:44). She asked the board to consider parity with other local charters, noting Montessori’s cap of 650 and saying Wiley’s cap is currently 550.

Carla provided statistical detail to the board and distributed materials from Wiley’s attorney. She said the charter previously received cap increases in 2020 and 2021 but that requests since then have been denied. The packet she gave the board included an enrollment‑cap provision that, she said, was drafted during the district’s earlier financial crisis and stated that increases require a two‑thirds board vote. “So not only did you say absolutely not, we don’t have any intent whatsoever, you also say that we not only need a majority vote for the cap, you have to have a super majority,” she said.

Carla said Wiley’s waiting lists by grade include 65 children for kindergarten, 31 for first grade, 23 for second grade, 23 for third grade, 15 for fourth grade, 34 for sixth grade, 21 for seventh grade and 10 for eighth grade. She asked that increases be phased at 25 students at a time rather than all at once and invited board members and the new superintendent to visit the school.

Board members did not take a vote on the cap during the meeting. The board’s finance director later discussed charter tuition and cap impacts while presenting the budget; administrators said they could model the fiscal effect of adding 25 students as part of the budget projection process next month.

The board did not provide an immediate public response to Wiley’s specific request during the allotted public comment period. The district’s budget presentation and subsequent discussion noted that charter tuition is a line item that can increase the district’s outflows when enrollment moves to charter providers, and the board asked staff to include financial scenarios in upcoming projections.

Looking ahead, Wiley representatives asked for a meeting with district leadership and the board to discuss the cap in more detail outside the public‑comment timeframe.

Ending: Wiley’s representatives left the board with specific enrollment and performance claims and a formal request for phased cap increases. The board will have the budget projections and a staff analysis available next month that could be used to inform any future vote or negotiation.