Public School Applying to Form Cyber Charter School (Pittsburgh, Penn: school districts, college)

[Comp 101]

If the top administrators of a school district apply to create a cyber charter school, complete with positions for themselves with nice salaries, wouldn't that be a conflict of interest?

[toobusytoday]

Does this have anything to do with Pennsylvania? If not, you may want to post your question in the Education forum.

[North Beach Person]

Originally Posted by toobusytoday

Does this have anything to do with Pennsylvania? If not, you may want to post your question in the Education forum.

I think it does. When I was up in PA a couple weeks ago I saw an article about the top administrators in one of the rural systems getting ready to do just what the OP asked about. I don't remember the details because I wasn't paying too close attention to it.

[Hopes]

This definitely is a PA topic! PA is ahead of most other states regarding charters and especially cyber charters. Since each state has different education laws, it's important to discuss the issue on a state level.

OP, don't worry. It's not a conflict of interest. The school districts are trying to compete with the other cyber schools because they are required to pay for cyber students. If they create a cyber charter and can encourage parents/students to use their charter, they get to keep those funds in the district. A cyber charter also helps the school district deal with challenging issues like teen pregnancy or more flexible high school schedules for students who need to work.

[toobusytoday]

I didn't mean it wasn't a PA topic, I just wasn't sure if the OP wouldn't get better answers in the education forum where people have more interest in education and charter schools in general.

Our school district is indeed attempting to keep it's own students by making some of the classes available on-line. As far as I know a couple of students are doing cyber school through them instead of another company, thereby saving several thousand dollars. I don't understand setting up a whole new school though.

[teachbeach]

Administrator retires from one school district, 2 years later opens up a cyber academy and lures his own previous district and a couple of other districts to his cyber school. Happened in Central PA.

[fisheye]

Originally Posted by toobusytoday

Does this have anything to do with Pennsylvania? If not, you may want to post your question in the Education forum.

So far nobody has mentioned a PA school? If the OP (or anybody else) could point us in that direction it would make this a PA discussion. A case, like the OP mentioned, would seem like traditional educator/s jumping ship to double or triple dip. Cyber education should be about efficiency and saving taxpayers money (reducing our taxes).

I do feel that this is the way of the future. Except, I don't think that we are going far enough. I think that education should be free for anybody at any time in their life. I do not think that it should ever be restricted to a classroom. Khan Academy (Khan Academy) is a great example of what I think should be available to all.

We have reached a day where our traditional education is failing us and we have to move on. It isn't that we should scrap the whole system. We do need the traditional system to work with the shortfalls of online (social, physical, remedial, testing, etc.).

The genie is out of the bottle. Millions have already tasted this new form of education. Online is improving at a much faster rate than our stuck-in-the-mud traditional system. We have to move past warehousing.

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by teachbeach

Administrator retires from one school district, 2 years later opens up a cyber academy and lures his own previous district and a couple of other districts to his cyber school. Happened in Central PA.

I see nothing wrong with that.

Originally Posted by fisheye

So far nobody has mentioned a PA school? If the OP (or anybody else) could point us in that direction it would make this a PA discussion.

We don't need to mention specific schools. I live in PA in a Pittsburgh suburb. I'm not going to say which school district I live in because my location is private on the internet. My school district joined other school districts in starting a cyber school. The reason they started the cyber is because they were paying for their students to attend other cyber schools. It helped them keep funds in their district.

As for the OP's concerns, districts starting cyber charters isn't any different than districts joining together to start trade schools, except the districts can accept students who live outside their districts for charter schools.

Originally Posted by fisheye

A case, like the OP mentioned, would seem like traditional educator/s jumping ship to double or triple dip. Cyber education should be about efficiency and saving taxpayers money (reducing our taxes).

How exactly do you think they double or triple dip? It's the districts funds paying for students to be educated. They aren't getting double funds from the state or feds for one child.

Originally Posted by fisheye

I do feel that this is the way of the future. Except, I don't think that we are going far enough. I think that education should be free for anybody at any time in their life. I do not think that it should ever be restricted to a classroom.

Public education is free in PA. Cyber Charter schools are free too because the school district where you reside pays for your child to attend any charter school you chose.

Originally Posted by fisheye

We have reached a day where our traditional education is failing us and we have to move on. It isn't that we should scrap the whole system. We do need the traditional system to work with the shortfalls of online (social, physical, remedial, testing, etc.).

The genie is out of the bottle. Millions have already tasted this new form of education. Online is improving at a much faster rate than our stuck-in-the-mud traditional system. We have to move past warehousing.

Sadly, school districts are using cyber schools to warehouse children instead of providing appropriate placement, especially for intelligent high achieving students. I know this too well because my child was a cyber student for 1-1/2 years. It was very isolating and hinders social development. I had to fight like hell to get an appropriate placement. Ultimately we struck a deal where they allowed my child to attend college instead of high school but I had to pay for it myself. I was more than happy with the arrangement because my child was appropriately challenged and graduated high school with an associates degree.

[fisheye]

Hopes,

Nothing is 'free' in PA. We all pay one way or another. That is why we should have specific information about what school district you are talking about. Any link to one of your local news articles would be helpful. All we can do is speculate from the sketchy information that you gave us. It is very hard to comment on hearsay.

Our son attended college before graduating from HS. That was before cyber education.

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by fisheye

Nothing is 'free' in PA. We all pay one way or another.

Of course, via taxes, but you don't have to pay for tuition, books, computers, transportation in addition to school taxes like happens in other states.

Originally Posted by fisheye

That is why we should have specific information about what school district you are talking about. Any link to one of your local news articles would be helpful. All we can do is speculate from the sketchy information that you gave us. It is very hard to comment on hearsay.

Do you really need local news articles to understand the financial structure of public education in Pennsylvania and how funds are applied to charters?

Here you go: Pennsylvania Department of Education -- Charter School Funding

Since this is dictated by law, the same applies to all charters in Pennsylvania, regardless of where they are located in the state.

Originally Posted by fisheye

Our son attended college before graduating from HS. That was before cyber education.

Lots of kids take a few college classes while in high shool. Mine only attended college, no high school whatsoever. It wasn't cyber. He attended on campus full-time. But whatever. It was a solution that worked for us regardless of if your child did it too.