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Cyber-charter reform yields roughly $732,000 in special-education savings; district eyes outreach to bring students back
Summary
District finance staff said cyber-charter tuition rate changes reduced special-education tuition by about $9,040 per student, saving roughly $732,000 this year; staff reported 324 students in cyber programs and described outreach plans to clarify district options to families.
Debbie Mazlowski, chief financial officer for William Penn School District, told the committee that recently enacted cyber-charter reforms were applied retroactively to the start of the school year and reduced allowable special-education tuition rates by about $9,040 per student.
"We currently have 81 students in the cyber charter schools for special ed. So, that's about $732,000 of that savings for this year," Mazlowski said, describing the reduction as a one-time savings for the current fiscal year but noting that the lower tuition rates will carry forward unless enrollment changes.
District staff reported 324 students are enrolled in cyber programs districtwide: roughly 243 in regular education and about 81 in special education. Committee members asked how many students attend the district’s brick-and-mortar programs and whether PLC (career/technical or in-district alternative program) enrollment was being counted; staff said a separate count for brick-and-mortar/program-specific enrollment is maintained and provided figures during the meeting (627 in a reported brick-and-mortar count and 127 special-education in that subset when asked).
A communications representative said the district has conducted mass outreach to cyber families to explain that the public provider (referred to in the meeting as Pinwood Cyber) is not the William Penn School District and to highlight athletics and other programs to make in-district enrollment more attractive. Administration agreed to explore presentations from PLC staff to better inform families about in-district options.
Board members pressed district staff about the high per-student costs for cyber providers. In the presentation staff gave a per-student annual tuition figure of $14,627.24 for regular-education cyber placements and $27,645.80 for special-education cyber placements, the latter described as obligatory regardless of the individual services a student receives.
No policy change was adopted at the meeting; the discussion centered on outreach and budgetary impacts of enrollment and tuition rates.
