Business manager: unpaid cyber charter invoices will be deducted from state subsidies
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Summary
Southmoreland's business manager told the board that cyber charter providers can turn unpaid invoices over to the Pennsylvania Department of Education, which will deduct amounts from the district’s Basic and Special Education subsidies; the district expects to begin monthly reporting once payments are processed through PDE.
Pam Mondock, the district’s business manager and transportation director, told the board the district currently has cyber charter invoices that were not paid during the recent budget impasse and that those invoices "automatically turn them into Pennsylvania Department of Education to have them deducted from your basic ed subsidy and your special ed subsidy." She added the district will pay new invoices in-house and begin reporting cyber charter expenditures monthly once payments are visible through PDE.
Board members asked whether the state had provided any grace period and whether the PDE action would harm the district’s credit rating. Mondock said the invoices are turned over after the stated invoice deadlines and that PDE’s deduction process would not affect the district’s credit rating, noting that other districts use a similar approach and PDE provides a year-end reconciliation.
The conversation also touched on recent adjustments to cyber charter funding: Mondock said the state increased the cyber charter subsidy slightly and adjusted regular-education cyber charter costs but had not changed special-education funding for cyber charters. A board member asked whether the district expects a deficit tied to cyber school costs; Mondock said it was too early in the fiscal year to determine that.
The board did not take separate action on cyber charter policy at the meeting; members asked administration to report back monthly on cyber charter expenditures as payments flow through PDE.