PA. Cyber Charter School had laid off all of their teachers, while still collecting tax dollars
There is a serious need for reform of the PA. cyber charter school system. All of the for profit cybercharters are not meeting state measures for performance, and they are diverting huge sums of money that are needed by public schools. Many public school systems are starting their own cyber schools because they know they can provide the service at a fraction of the cost of the for-profits. The cybers classify a huge percentage of their students as having special needs, which then allows them to be paid much more per student than the public schools receive for special need students.
The local school districts have little or no control over the cybercharters - the State approves them.
Here's the latest cybercharter school scandal.
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/pennsylvania/20120424_AT_CYBER-SCHOOL__FOLLOW_THE_MONEY__Execs_get_some__teachers_don_t.html
This cybercharter has laid off all of their teachers, but the administrators are still getting paid and the tax money is still flowing.
Excerpt:
"Craig admitted that only a quarter of the school's 85 students had received promised reimbursements for their use of the Internet to do school work at home, and a number of large bills were going unpaid...The school came to a grinding halt when the teaching staff and the principal were laid off last month.
The state Department of Education launched an investigation, but a department spokesman recently said that there were concerns about whether the school was willing to cooperate.
"I just can't believe the state hasn't stepped in yet," said Chris Kristofco, whose wife, Amanda, was one of the laid-off teachers.
The cyber-school is supposed to receive $435,520 from the Philadelphia School District to educate 54 city students. Through March 9, Frontier had received $247,820 from eight school districts across the state that are sending children to Frontier."
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