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Twitter| 12/30/2008 3:32 AM | Email this article  • Print this article  |
Administrators say unequal payments, reimbursement for online students unfair By Dawn Keller and Cara Host, Staff writers newsroom@observer-reporter.com This article has been read 1688 times. Area school districts say the state needs to change how much money cyber schools get for educating students because it's not done fairly. Cyber schools are considered public schools. Therefore, state law requires public schools to pay cyber schools for the children who are educated through them. At West Greene School District, 35 students attend cyber school, and the district pays about $12,131 tuition for each child. The state partially reimburses school districts, but Thelma Szarell, West Greene superintendent, said the reimbursement is wholly inadequate. During the 2006-07 school year, West Greene paid more than $106,000 for cyber school and was reimbursed just more than $5,000.
"These costs should be uniform; perhaps they could be based on the tuition rate paid to other school districts. Why should it cost us so much when (cyber schools) don't have the same requirements as we do?" Szarell said. Michael Race, a spokesman for the state Department of Education, said the department wants a change as well. The amount a district spends per student is sent to a cyber school by the district where students live, he said. "It's essentially the money following the child," he said. However, because all districts don't spend the same amount per student, there is a disparity in how much they pay cyber schools. If one pays $5,000, another may pay $10,000, which could lead to a profit of taxpayer money for cyber schools, Race said. If there's a profit, the cyber schools are being overpaid by taxpayers, he said. The state is trying to come up with a uniform cost based on how much cyber schools spend to educate students, Race said. He said that idea was shot down in legislation in 2007, but the department plans to bring it up again.
"We want it to be fair but equal," he said. McGuffey business manager Scott Burchill said the district spent $273,803 on cyber schools last year, which is about 4 mills for taxpayers. The cost is increasing every year, even though cyber schools don't spend nearly as much to educate a child as a regular public school, he said. "A lot of these cyber schools made out like gangbusters," he said. One troubling issue for schools is that they could absorb the cyber school students into their buildings without increasing costs because the students aren't all in the same grade, Burchill said. They wouldn't need to hire more teachers or spend a lot more money, he said. However, they must come up with the money to send to the cyber schools for those students, he said. "We're trying to encourage (students) to come back because we offer a better education," he said. Central Greene School District has 39 students enrolled in cyber schools. Superintendent Jerome Bartley said the impact on the district's budget is significant, since Central Greene pays about $8,100 for each cyber school student and more for students in special education.
"For a very small, select group of students, cyber school is a good idea. But the majority would benefit more from going to (traditional) school," Bartley said. Children in traditional schools will learn socialization as well as basic job skills, such as working with others and time management, Bartley said. The high cost has led some school districts to create their own cyber school. Districts often spend between $9,000 and $16,000 for students who attend cyber schools, said Tamara Stimmell, Charleroi Area assistant superintendent. That led the district to create its own charter school. Each student gets a laptop and textbooks and works with cyber teachers. They meet at home or at the library for tutoring and must log on daily. That costs the district about $4,500 per student, and the program is aligned with the district curriculum. Last year, Charleroi had seven students in its cyber school. That number jumped to 24 this year. "We're seeing a need for it," Stimmell said. "Brick-and-mortar schools didn't quite meet their needs, and they still wanted to continue their education." |
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Cyber Schools. : 12/30/2008
My son is in yber school and its been the most peaceful, calm and fulfilling 2 years of education he's ever had. Public school did nothing but shuffle him through the system, and instead of keeping him in his home school district would send him to one alternitive school after another with worse kids than he started out with. PA Cyber knows all about my sons educational (or lack of) background, they tested him and have worked with us to ensure he catches up on the 9 years of public school education he missed because the public schools couldn't work with us. In my opinion the cyber schools are entitled to every red cent they get! I hope in the next few years the public school system goes the way of the horse and buggy, a quaint but bitter memory.
Cyber Schooling = Wave of the Future? : 1/1/2009
Cyber school is a good way to get rid of all the extortion (called "taxes", and favor-ism that goes on affiliated with the corrupted (top to bottom) public school system we have today.
Cyber Schools : 1/2/2009
As an educator who worked with both cyber-school and regular school education, my experiences with students who have utilized cyber-education situations were either fantastic or a waste of years toward their education. Those who were independent , strong learners with a great work ethic succeeded and did extremely well in both cyber-school and homeschooling situations (plus had parents whose ability allow them to motivate and challenge the student as well), but those who just don't want to be "hassled" with school district rules and policy end up further behind - which wastes every red cent the district pays out to educate that child. Which category you fall into determines how well your child will do. The ultimate test will be how productive a member of society each child will be once they earn their diploma, regardless from where they get it...Productive people who contribute to society are sucessful, people who expect others to take care of things for them are not. I don't think cyber school is the "solution" to the eductation problem, but if used correctly (and not as a profit making situation by many cyber-schools) and expected to meet the same set of standards and regulations for every other student in the state of Pennsylvania, it can be a very useful way to engage highly motivated students into enriching their academics. Students who have learning difficulties are going to struggle in an independent climate because they don't get the personal support they need and receive in a face to face school setting. My vote is public school with each district controlling their cyber-schooling (have the teachers already on staff pick up the classes or higher specific cyber-school instructors who work out of their homes for the district). That way, the district can ensure the students are meeting the standards the state (and federal government regulations like No Child Left Behind) put into effect.
CYBER SCHOOL : 1/20/2009
As a mother of a child with a behaivor , and medcial problems and a another child with learnig problems I fell there is no other choice but to cyber school, but as far as the school districts choseing which cyber school my child can attend thats illegal and to give them the say i don't think so thats why I chose to cyber school because the school distrist in which i live in is not capable of teaching my childern i try for 11 years with my oldest and brick and morter failed the oldest now i am playing catch up because of the inaqueted standards i feel all parents should cyber schools the tax payers money would be put to better use and my school district is uneducated in special needs childern they threaten parents don't follow the laws and bully us to where we can only chose cyber schooling unless you have the money for pravite school and in this area well most of us just bearly get by so there is cyber schooling or home schooling which in my area the school distrit will not give the currilm they say they don't have too so i feel their is no other choice and for the school district to try and treat us as if we were in russia is outrageous and in closing if they would do a better job at schooling our kids regular ed and special education childern then we would not have to cyber school.
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