Testimony about cyber-charter school bills
Howard B. Richman, PhD
Informational meeting
of the House Education Committee
Somerset High School
August 9, 2001
I am an educator with
a PhD from the University of Pittsburgh School of Education. My wife and I provide leadership, materials,
and services to private home education in Pennsylvania. We have edited a state-wide homeschool
newsletter for the past 19 years. When
students leave private home education in order to enroll in a cyber-charter
school, we lose potential customers for the materials and services that we
provide. Nevertheless we are strongly
supportive of the new cyber-charter option.
In June of this year I
was one of the many proponents of educational choice who opposed Senate Bill
891 because it would virtually end the healthy competition from the
cyber-charter schools. On June 26, an
op-ed piece that I wrote celebrating SB 891’s failure to pass in its current
form was published in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
I have attached a copy of that
op-ed piece to this testimony.
Like SB 891, HB 1733
is designed to solve the problems faced by school districts regarding
cyber-charter school funding. But
unlike SB 891, it appears to continue the cyber-charter option for parents
throughout Pennsylvania. I cannot
predict the effects of the various regulatory and financial provisions of HB
1733, and am thus not prepared to comment upon them. I urge you, however, to consult closely with the cyber-charter
schools themselves and make sure that any new cyber-charter school law would
expand, rather than contract, the options available to Pennsylvania families.
In my testimony today,
I plan to focus on one small aspect of HB 1733 which I would like to see
changed – the provision which would let the school districts exclude
cyber-charter students from local school district sports and extra-curricular
activities. Then I will briefly raise a
topic that is not part of HB 1733, but perhaps should be – half-time enrollment
of cyber-charter students in vocational-technical schools.
School Sports
Under current law,
local school districts must let
charter school students participate in their school sports and extra-curricular
activities. Thus HB 1733 would take
away something that is currently in place.
Last year, 4 of the 529 students enrolled in Western Pennsylvania Cyber
Charter School (WPCCS) played on public school sports teams. The Pittsburgh Post Gazette on August 29, 2000, reported that one of those
students, Amy Wohar, was pleased that the Cyber-charter school law let her play
high school soccer and volleyball and participate in theater though her local
school district would not have let her participate as a homeschooled student.
Thirty-eight
representatives and sixteen senators are currently co-sponsoring bills that
would require that privately homeschooled students be permitted to participate
on the local public school sports teams.
However, there are some thorny issues involved. For example, in order to comply with PIAA
requirements, school students must maintain good grades in all of their
classes. Some school officials have
worried that an athlete who wasn’t doing well in school might homeschool during
the sports season just to avoid academic requirements.
Such a problem does
not exist where the cyber-charter schools are concerned. A cyber-charter student is held accountable
by the cyber-charter school staff who monitor the student’s work. Last year WPCCS called the school districts
before each game to let them know that the student was maintaining the grades
required for PIAA eligibility.
When you think of
school sports, think of Jason Taylor, the most financially successful graduate,
thus far, of a Pennsylvania home education program. I was reminded of him when I read in the July 29 Pittsburgh Tribune-Review that his parents have
enrolled their three school-age children in the Allegheny Intermediate Unit’s
cyber-charter school. Just a few days
earlier, 26-year-old Jason, signed a six-year $42 million contract as a defensive
end with the Miami Dolphins. Jason is
not only a star athlete but has also been involved in many charitable
activities. He almost missed his chance
to play school sports in high school and college, despite his strong academic
and athletic abilities, as I reported in
an attached article that appeared in the Fall 1992 issue of our newsletter. If you continue to allow cyber-charter
school students on the public school sports teams, you may be helping our
society produce other positive role models like Jason Taylor.
Vocational-Technical
Education
Currently, students in
both public and private schools can participate half-time in the local
vocational-technical schools with their expenses paid by their local public
school districts. The vo-techs were clearly founded in order to produce a
skilled workforce, not a public school perk.
The charter school law
currently does not let charter school students attend vocational-technical
schools unless the vo-tech school is in the same district as the charter
school. Since cyber-charter schools
serve students in a wide region, this effectively bars most cyber-charter
school students from attending a vo-tech half time. Perhaps HB 1733 could address this issue.
In Sum
If HB 1733 forms the
basis of a new cyber-charter school law, it should:
1. Provide
for continuing expansion of cyber-charter alternatives for parents throughout
Pennsylvania.
2. Continue
to let cyber-charter school students participate in school sports and
extra-curricular activities.
3. Provide
that cyber-charter school students, like private school students, can attend
local vo-tech schools half time.