Letter to the editor: Leaders should confront public education problems

Regarding the editorial “School funding, charter oversight are state-created problems” (Nov. 30, TribLive): For more than a decade, the debate over public cyber charter schools has been framed as an educational issue. In reality, it has always been about money, driven by school districts and state leaders who would rather argue over dollars than confront deeper problems in Pennsylvania’s public education system.

Cyber charter schools exist because tens of thousands of families lost trust and confidence in their local districts and needed a viable alternative. Cyber schools are not the cause of public education’s struggles; they are the symptom of districts failing to meet the unique needs of their students.

Instead of asking why so many families choose public cyber charters, district leaders and lawmakers often criticize the very schools that provide families with stability, safety and success. The editorial suggests funding cyber schools through the state, but that proposal ignores fairness. Families pay taxes to local districts, which also receive state and federal funding. When a child enrolls in a cyber charter, those dollars follow the student — just as they would if a family moved to another district.

Moving cyber funding into the state budget would render these schools vulnerable to yearly political bargaining, threatening their stability and the students who rely on them.

School districts and cyber charters do not need to be enemies.

If Pennsylvania wants fewer families turning to cyber charters, it must improve the system that pushed them there.

Timothy A. Eller

Harrisburg

The writer is chief branding and government relations officer for Commonwealth Charter Academy