KO School Board to Call for Reform of State's Charter, Cyber-Charter School Funding

The Keystone Oaks School Board plans to discuss, and possibly adopt, a resolution calling for the reform of the state's charter and cyber-charter school funding.

The resolution reads, in part, as follows:

WHEREAS, the charter and cyber-charter school funding formula in the Public School Code is based on the sending school district’s prior year’s budgeted expenditures per average daily membership, minus certain budgeted expenditures of the district of residence; and

WHEREAS, the Commonwealth’s provisions under Act 88 of 2002 to reimburse school districts for students attending charter schools was funded in neither the 2011-2012 nor 2012-2013 school years; and

WHEREAS, since the Commonwealth now funds charter school costs to school districts only through its basic education subsidy, more of the expense of charter school tuition falls to local taxpayers...

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Keystone Oaks School District Board of School Directors urges the General Assembly to adopt a formula for funding charter and cyber-charter schools to ensure that funds provided by the taxpayers for public education: are equitably distributed to school districts, charter schools and cyber-charter schools; reflect the true costs that each incurs to educate its students; and are used only for their intended purposes.

The full text of the resolution can be read in the Keystone Oaks School Board meeting agenda, which is attached to this article in PDF format, and also is available on the Keystone Oaks School District website.

The Keystone Oaks School Board meeting will be held today, Thursday, April 18, in the board room at Keystone Oaks High School at 7 p.m.

Follow Dormont-Brookline Patch on Facebook and Twitter. For more news, sign up for our email Newsletter.