School districts look to save money, provide better education with their own cyberschools

Bentworth Assistant Superintendent George Lammay is feeling both frustrated and hopeful as the new school year is set to begin. Like many other school officials throughout Washington and Greene counties, Lammay is tired of seeing such a large portion of Bentworth School District’s yearly budget disappear to cover cyberschool costs.
Last year alone, the district paid more than $300,000 for about 25 students living within the district who instead attended a cyberschool of their choosing.
Lammay said the budgetary strain, and the fact students who return to the district from cyber programs are often unprepared or have fallen behind, has led the district to introduce the Bentworth Cyber Academy. The cyber program – Bentworth contracted with Fuel Education – will offer online curriculum for students in grades five through 12. Aspects of the program will also be used with traditional students to offer more electives and to expand the district’s science, technology, engineering, arts and math initiative.
Bentworth is not alone. Many school districts within the two-county region are starting to offer their own cyber programs to combat similar problems.
Parents have the option to pull their children from the school district in which they live and enroll them in the cyber or charter school of their choosing. According to Pennsylvania Department of Education, charter schools are self-managed public schools that are approved by local school districts. Cyber charter schools are approved by the state Department of Education. Both are created and controlled by parents, teachers, community leaders and colleges or universities.
Charter schools operate free from many educational mandates, except for those concerning nondiscrimination, health and safety and accountability.
For the 2014-15 school year, there were 149 charter schools and 14 cyber charter schools across the state, according to the state Department of Education. Figures for the 2015-16 school year were not available.
There is no statewide average for cyber costs. Instead, costs vary across the state and district.
Lammay, who facilitates the newly introduced program, said it will save the district roughly 40 percent of the cost per student and offer a better curriculum to families seeking flexibility.
The majority of parents who pull their children from a traditional school setting are seeking “better opportunities,” Lammay said. However, some parents – and students – use the program to escape.
“There are some real misunderstandings about what these programs can do,” he said about cyberschools. “The students who need the most support gravitate toward these programs that provide the least support.”
Central Greene School District’s E-Learning Academy Director Matthew Blair said its cyber program has provided the district with “big savings.” Blair said the district spends between $10,000 and $12,000 per student for outside cyberschools. Special education students costs the district between $21,000 and $24,000 for outside programs.
Blair said Central Greene introduced its cyber program three years ago, which is now used in a blended manner with traditional and cyber students.
“It makes sense. If you have kids going into higher education, they’re going to take online courses. If kids are struggling, it helps them at their own pace,” he said. “We started it to try to recoup money, but it turned into something so much more.”
Attending cyberschool includes many benefits like flexibility, family time and relief from stresses and anxieties, Blair said. But he warns families and students must be “time-oriented.”
“If not, they will struggle,” he said. “People think it’s easy and it’s not. There is not someone standing over you saying ‘It’s math time.'”
Blair said Central Greene’s program is hosted through Plato and provides curriculum for grades six through 12. Many districts tend to avoid elementary grades because the curriculum is “dynamic,” Blair said. Students must be working within the program for a certain time period to receive credit for attendance.
“The system is savvy enough to know if you are actually working,” he said.
Parent interaction is also strongly encouraged.
“Kids with parental involvement are successful,” Blair said.
Washington School District Superintendent Roberta DiLorenzo said districts have a “fiscal responsibility” to their taxpayers, and that providing its own cyberschool is fiscally responsible. In 2011-12, Washington spent $827,391 in cyber costs. Since the district’s cyber program introduction in 2012-13, the district has saved $1,099,183.
Washington, like other districts, has used its program to “remediate, reteach, enhance and enrich learning,” according to DiLorenzo. Individual students’ education plans can be tweaked and altered to increase the use of digital content.
In addition, Washington’s cyberschool is in a partnership with a Beaver County school district and also provides classes to Washington County jail inmates.
For the 2014-15 year, the district has 35 cyber teachers and 29 students attending its cyberschool. An additional 48 students are attending other cyberschools.
Lammay said Bentworth currently has three students enrolled in its cyber program. An additional 90 traditional students will also use the program in the upcoming year. He’s looking forward to providing the district with another option in quality education.
“We want to see students completing assignments,” he said. “We also want to be competitive. We no longer take it for granted that you want to educate your child with us.”