Jennifer Morgan: Democrats’ proposed cyber charter funding cuts would hurt children

My two daughters are thriving in their public cyber charter school. The quality of their education is better than I could have ever imagined. The Pennsylvania Leadership Charter School (PALCS) has been life-changing for my girls, who participate in a hybrid model that combines online and in-person learning. PALCS and other schools like it have saved countless students from lackluster or underperforming public schools in their respective home school districts. That’s why it’s so concerning to see Democratic state lawmakers and Gov. Josh Shapiro once again lining up to cut funding to public schools that only account for 3.5% of all public school funding.

My oldest, Alexandra, is gifted but suffered from bullying in middle school and chronic health conditions. The lack of academic rigor in our district school meant teachers were simply pushing busy work at her instead of keeping her actively engaged. She entered the University Scholars Program (USP) for gifted and accelerated learners at PALCS five years ago, where she bonded with teachers and made lifelong friends.

After she graduates this month, she’ll be headed to the University of Florida’s (UF) Honors Program. She’s also been accepted to the University Research Scholars Program, reserved for the top 2% of UF’s 92,000 applicants. Some of her PALCS classmates are attending the best universities in America, including Harvard, Stanford and Vanderbilt.

My youngest, Juliet, will enter high school this fall. She deals with ADHD, and it was a continuous fight to get her the services she needed in our school district. One of her prior PALCS teachers has ADHD and helped Juliet engage and feel understood. She’s so much happier now and has a great group of friends. Juliet is a lot different from her older sister, choosing instead to attend PALCS’s Center for Performing and Fine Arts (CPFA). For someone like Juliet, who loves the arts, two full days per week of intensive art and music training was too enticing to resist.

Since starting at PALCS, Juliet has learned to play the guitar and is now performing in school concerts. Also an artist, she’s now exhibiting her paintings, sculptures and sketches. When her cyber charter drawing teacher recognized Juliet was interested in Leonardo DaVinci’s work, she personally brought in books and resources to help Juliet learn more about DaVinci’s life and how to apply his techniques to her own work. Recent PALCS students in the arts have gone on to attend Berklee College of Music, New York University’s Tisch School and The Juilliard School.

I could go on extolling the virtues of these programs and the impact PALCS has on kids like mine, but it seems like Democratic state lawmakers and Shapiro simply choose to ignore stories like ours and the facts. As a longtime registered Democrat, I couldn’t be more disappointed by my party’s leaders attacking these life-saving schools for no other reason than politics.

Why do these Democrats suddenly cease their calls for funding equity when it comes to public cyber schools? Some are using the February 2023 Pennsylvania State Supreme Court ruling on how schools are funded to justify these cuts, but House Bill 1500 won’t fix this problem. Underfunding public cybers only compounds financial inequalities felt statewide.

Pennsylvania’s public school districts, like the one we left because it wasn’t doing a good enough job, receive as much as $23,000 per student, yet the governor has called for cutting spending to only $8,000 for schools like PALCS. In support of the governor, House Democrats have already passed House Bill 1500, a horribly unjust piece of legislation that would hurt children like mine by choking public cybers of resources. My children, and the 60,000 students attending public cyber schools in Pennsylvania, are not worth less than students in district schools.

This legislation also ignores how districts added $836 million to their reserves last year alone and are now sitting on a massive $7 billion fortune. The next time your school district blames a public cyber for a tax increase, check and see how much is sitting in their Rainy Day Fund. You can find every school district here. You’ll find districts are hoarding millions, with the Philadelphia School District leading the way with $598 million.

Those who oppose Pennsylvania’s public cyber charters say they’re inferior. That obviously isn’t the case, but it’s also untrue for a very simple reason: No parent would choose to send their children to an inferior school. We know what’s best for our kids and what they need to thrive — not Democratic state lawmakers and the governor. That’s why we left our public school district and chose the Pennsylvania Leadership Charter School.

Jennifer Morgan is a former Pennsylvania state-certified social studies teacher from Delaware County.