Posted on 05/09/2002 6:25:18 AM PDT by Chi Chi Tokyo
NOTE FOR EDUCATIONAL AND DISCUSSION PURPOSES ONLY.
Cyber school to return $225G to 15 districts
By MICHAEL LESTER
Press Enterprise Writer
An Internet-based school did not spend all the money it received the last two years from 15 area school districts.
So, the SusQ-Cyber Charter School is returning a combined $225,000 to those districts.
"If we don't need it, we don't believe in spending it just because we have it," explained Jim Street, the charter school's superintendent.
This year, 114 students in grades nine through 12 are being educated through the 4-year-old cyber school based in Milton.
The students take courses at home by computer. They convene at a public building to take tests, which are monitored by a teacher.
The Bloomsburg Area School District, which has two students enrolled in the cyber school, got the biggest refund locally at $24,000. It's money that always comes in handy for schools, particularly at this time of year when Bloomsburg and other districts are putting together budgets for 2002-03.
Unlike most traditional public schools, the SusQ-Cyber school does not horde money left over after each school year.
The cyber school, which operates with four employees and an annual budget of about $800,000, does not believe in having a fund balance. In fact, the rules that established the school do not permit the cyber school to maintain a fund balance.
This week, Street, who works part time for the cyber school, has been visiting with school boards, delivering refund checks to them at public meetings.
The refunds were possible because the cyber school got more money than it needed.
The cyber school is funded by the public school districts whose students are served by the school.
Cyber school funding is based on what member schools spend per student each year.
For example, the Bloomsburg Area School District pays the cyber school over $5,000 for each Bloomsburg student taught by the alternative school.
Besides paying four employees, the cyber school spends its funding on books, computers, Internet connections and courses.
The refunds are from the 1998-99 and 1999-2000 school years.
The SusQ-Cyber school believes it is the first in the state to give refunds to funding school districts.
The cyber school's board of 11 directors delayed in returning the leftover money because some schools whose students were enrolled in the cyber school were refusing to help fund the school as required by state law.
At least one court fight is being waged over the responsibility of public schools to fund charter schools.
Some public school districts have refused to pay bills received from the cyber schools. Some public school officials have complained that some cyber schools do not account for how they spend public money.
Other local school districts receiving refunds were Benton $3,794; Berwick, $18,106; and Danville, $9,731.
Michael Lester may be reached at 387-1234, ext. 1311 or at mlester9@hotmail.com.
http://www.susqcyber.org/
All contact information is on the site.
It may be part of a bigger plan to gradually push public
opinion to fund more of these type of schools.
School boards group wants to halt witholding for cyber tuition
Harrisburg (AP)- The Pennsylvania School Boards Association asked Commonwealth Court on Tuesday to bar the state from witholding money from school districts for unpaid online charter school bills.
The association made its request following a Thursday court ruling that said the Department of Education should give districts notice and the opportunity for a hearing before witholding money for "cyber" schools.
The decision affected nine southeastern Pennsylvania school districts. In its request, PSBA argues that all school districts, including those whose subsidies have already been witheld, should be entitled to hearings to challenge the bills.
PSBA also wants the state to restore any funding it has already witheld from school districts while they await an opportunity for any hearings.
"This injunctive relief will ensure that all districts have the ability to ask basic questions such as: Are the students actually residents of the district receiving the invoice? Are they really enrolled in the cyber school?" said PSBA Executive Director Thomas J. Gentzel.
Department officials have said that more than 300 districts refused to pay $10 million in bills this year from Einstein Academy Charter School and Western Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School. The districts contend "cyber schools," which deliver instruction over the Internet, are illegal and their bills questionable. There are seven cyber schools in the state.
A department spokeswoman had no immediate comment on Tuesday.
The school should return the money, because that's part of their agreement. To expect the Leftists to somehow be appeased becasue of that, however, is to deny reality. It will only embolden them.
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