Letter to the editor: Charter school misinformation

In the article “Freeport’s cyber charter school is helping district save money, officials say,” Freeport Area School District Superintendent Ian Magness said, “In an outside cyber charter setting, there is very little accountability, and that is common knowledge across the commonwealth.” This is a common misconception, but it’s not true.

Cyber charters are held to even more stringent standards than other schools in Pennsylvania. Cyber charters are governed by the same state and federal education mandates that apply to all public schools, plus additional oversight groups that school districts don’t answer to, including the IRS, the Department of the Treasury, the auditor general, watchdog organizations for special education and civil rights, and more.

Unfortunately, due to this kind of misinformation, Pennsylvania now faces a school choice crisis.

Gov. Tom Wolf and Education Committee Chairman Curt Sonney are considering legislation that would force families to pay out-of-pocket if they send their children to charter schools outside their home district. They believe district-run charter schools are better than outside charters. But as a former brick-and-mortar schoolteacher who now teaches at a cyber charter, I’ve seen that this is untrue. Fortunately, I’ve also seen students who were unable to get the support they needed from their home districts eventually become thriving learners after their families found the right cyber charter school that actually serves their needs.

Why should these families be forced to pay a penalty, or feel trapped by the same districts that have been letting them down?

Peter Mysels

Monroeville

The writer is a PA Distance Learning Charter School social studies teacher.