Greensburg Salem is revamping its online learning program in the hopes of bringing its 185 cyber charter students into the district.

Western Pennsylvania’s school districts have cited cyber charter tuition expenses as a pain point in their budgets for years, and the issue has caught the attention of state legislators.

Gov. Josh Shapiro’s proposed 2025-26 budget, released in February, suggests setting a flat cyber tuition rate of $8,000 per student annually, capping the cost districts have to pay for students in their area to attend independent public cyber schools.

Legislation introduced by the House in April echoed Shapiro’s proposal. The legislation, House Bill 1500, has sat in the Senate Education Committee since June.

As Pennsylvania’s 500 public school districts await the passage of a 2025-26 budget and a Senate vote on House Bill 1500, Greensburg Salem is looking to tackle the issue from another angle — launching an expanded online learning program called the GOLD Academy in advance of the coming school year.

How the program works

The program — which stands for Greensburg Online Learning Dashboard — offers more than 350 courses with various difficulty levels for K-12 students.

Classes will run asynchronously, but students will have daily check-ins with instructors to make sure they are on track with their schoolwork, Assistant Superintendent Kara Gardner said.

The district’s existing online learning program, ePride, was offered in partnership with the Westmoreland Intermediate Unit.

Students can opt to stay in ePride, Gardner said, but the district aims to promote GOLD Academy.

“We’re really just trying to make ourselves a little more competitive with the cyber charter schools,” she said, “because those schools are offering additional classes. They’re offering different levels of rigor.

“What their programming looks like is just different (from ePride), so we really have to compete in a different way.”

District budget ‘blown up’ by cyber charter tuition

Gardner believes it’s important for students to have the opportunities that come with a Greensburg Salem education — including access to clubs, sports, field trips and the Westmoreland Career and Technology Center.

But the financial burden of cyber charter tuition also drove the district to expand its online learning program, she said.

The district anticipates it will pay about $3.1 million in 2025-26 for about 185 students to attend cyber charter schools. Tuition rates fall around $11,000 per regular education student and $28,000 per special education student.

It will cost about $3,200 for Greensburg Salem to educate a student through its GOLD Academy.

Tasked this year with closing a $2 million budget gap, Greensburg Salem might not have had to levy a 2.5-mill tax hike if it weren’t for cyber charter tuition payments, veteran board member Frank Gazze said.

“Our budget was blown up because of cybers, and the state government keeps turning a blind eye to it,” Gazze said.

Several teachers and administrators have committed to speaking with the district’s cyber charter students and their families about the GOLD Academy, Gardner said.

“I think a lot of times, people potentially leave a school district due to a bad experience, so you need to work really hard to build that rapport back with that family,” she said, “and see, ‘Why are they participating in cyber charter learning? Was there something that happened? Is there anything we can do for them? Are there additional supports that we can offer those families?’ ”

Board member Robin Savage suggested hosting an in-person open house to teach local families about the GOLD Academy.

“It gives students and their families an opportunity to see what the program offers in person,” Savage said via email. “They can talk to our administrators and ask questions and just maybe by seeing what we are offering now, we may eventually have them back in our buildings.”

To learn more or register with the GOLD Academy, send an email to Erik Doran, the district’s online learning adviser, at erikdoran@gslions.net.

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