Governor Josh Shapiro (D) spent much of last summer under fire for his betrayal of students stuck in failing schools. His latest budget now goes after charter schools as well.
On the campaign trail, then-candidate Josh Shapiro (D) pledged his support to Lifeline Scholarships, a program that would have given parents zoned to failing schools a chance to choose a better education for their child. Once in office, however, Shapiro pulled his support and sided with Democrats in the Pennsylvania House and their teacher union allies to ensure these families got no help.
Last month, Shapiro released his latest education spending plan, and had a chance to redeem himself on the promise made on the campaign trail. Unfortunately, he chose to double-down on his double-cross – he left out any funding for the Lifeline program and decided to cut funding for charter school families.
Currently, students at cyber charter schools (which are public schools) bring with them about 72% of the money that would be spent on their behalf at their local brick-and-mortar school. This is a bonus to the home school district – the students don’t attend their local school, but a quarter of every dollar in taxes stays behind.
In his budget, Governor Shapiro wants to arbitrarily cap the funding at public cyber charter schools at $8,000, or 40% of the $22,000 average spent each year per student in Pennsylvania.
These online charter schools take some of the toughest cases – kids who have been bullied out of their neighborhood school, or have severe social anxieties, or fell through the cracks and need remedial help – and manage to serve parent and student needs at a fraction of the cost. For their efforts, Governor Shapiro is trying to punish these schools and the families they assist.
The Governor’s press release says his budget will, “Creat[e] Opportunity by Ensuring All Pennsylvanians Have the Freedom to Chart Their Own Course & the Opportunity to Succeed.” That sounds ironic to families in cyber charter schools and failing districts.
