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Consultants tell Octorara Area SD officials charter tuition is costing the district about $5 million; recommend website, outreach and virtual‑academy upgrades
Summary
Devapar consultants told the Octorara Area School Board that charter‑school tuition is taking roughly $5.0 million (about 7.9–8% of next fiscal‑year budget) out of the district and recommended a communications push, website updates, stronger student‑tracking and enhancements to the Octorara Virtual Academy to recapture enrollments.
Devapar consultants presented the findings of a commissioned charter‑school study and told the Octorara Area School Board that tuition paid to charter schools is a material outflow from the district budget.
The consultants said the district currently pays roughly $5,000,000 in charter tuition — about 7.9% of the district’s projected 2526 budget — and recommended a set of short‑ and long‑term actions to retain and recapture students. Presenter (Devapar) said, "Those are significant costs, that are leaving the Octorara School District and going to other educational entities," and urged the board to treat the issue as a fiscal priority.
Why it matters: Board finance members and administrators said charter tuition projections are large enough to affect local revenue planning and millage decisions. Finance Committee reporting at the meeting estimated charter tuition could cost the district about $5.3 million this year, or roughly 8% of the total budget.
What the consultants recommended: The presentation listed several actionable steps, including hiring or empowering a director of communications to lead outreach, rebuilding the district website and subsites for easier navigation, actively promoting the district’s recent grade‑reconfiguration and CTE offerings, enhancing the Octorara Virtual Academy to better compete with cyber charters, developing building‑level procedures so staff can respond when families express interest in charters, and conducting phone outreach to families with students enrolled in cyber charters (consultants cited 61 students in cyber charters and 14 at Collegium in their summary data).
On data and performance: Board members asked for grade‑level breakdowns, which the consultants said are included in the full report. The consultants said they found 21 kindergartners enrolled in charter options (20 attending Avon Grove) and noted that many of the cyber charter programs receiving Octorara students were designated under state improvement categories; a board member framed that as a performance concern and the consultant agreed that comparative data could be used in outreach.
Board response and next steps: Board members thanked the consultants and asked administrators to bring back the full report and follow‑up items including: (1) a public‑facing website/subsite audit and launch plan; (2) a plan to evaluate and, if needed, enhance the Virtual Academy; (3) improved tracking of student residency and charter tuition calculations (PD 3‑63 was referenced); and (4) proposed outreach scripts and timelines for contacting families. The board did not take an immediate vote on policy changes; the presentation concluded with the expectation that administration will return with implementation steps.
Quote: Sue Sneed (Devapar) said, "We really want to demonstrate a renewed emphasis in telling the story of Octorara's successes," urging a communications‑forward approach to enrollment retention.
The board moved on to routine business and votes after the presentation; the consultants’ full report was offered to the board for review.
