Guy Ciarrocchi: Cyber charter students, the piñata in Harrisburg

There is a group of students in our state who have become a political piñata — the object attacked repeatedly, with those wielding the political “stick” wearing blindfolds choosing not to see the students they’re attacking. 

Worse, the attackers encourage other parents also to attack these students, and their parents. These students already had their education funding cut for 2024-25 and 2025-26, yet some politicians want to take another financial “whack” at them. They are the only segment of students to have their funding cut for two years in a row. 

Cyber charter students: they are Harrisburg’s tragic piñata.

Before addressing the silliness and cruelty of the attacks on these students, let’s set the stage with some indisputable facts about funding.

Last year, $39 billion was spent on public education in Pennsylvania — the highest amount ever spent. More than is spent in 44 other states. School districts received their largest one-year increase in 2024-25. One year after the then-largest increase in 2023-24. One year after the then-largest increase ever in 2022-23. Today, the average amount spent on a public school student is over $24,000.

And before getting drawn into debates about even more funding for public school districts, know that there is over $7.4 billion sitting in school district reserves. Sitting in the bank. Remember that the next time your local school board complains that Harrisburg ought to send even more taxpayer money to your local school district. And you should especially remember when your local school board claims they have to raise your property taxes because they “need” money — because they’re spending “too much” on cyber students.

Seriously?

In a state with about two million K-12 students, cyber students account for just 70,000 — about 3.5 percent. More importantly, cyber students only receive about 68 percent of what is spent on local public school district students. In 2025-26, they are scheduled to get even less — about 66 percent — of what’s spent on their peers in school district schools. Yet some want more cuts.

District schools have never had more money to spend, have billions in reserve, and cyber students account for only 3.5 percent of all students. So why focus on them?

Over 70,000 kindergarten through twelfth grade students across the state from Erie to South Philly attend live, online schools their parents or guardians chose for them, regardless of income, race, religion or zip code. For most cyber students, it’s the second — if not third or fourth — school that they’ve attended, as parents searched for the right fit, hoping to find a school that works for their child, meeting the need that was missing in other schools.

Students like Ryan in Northeast Philly. Marisa in Bradford County. Aaron in Scranton. Lucien in West Chester. Christopher in southwest Philly. Students who found that cyber schools worked best for them to allow them to reach their potential; learning in a safe environment — at home, or in a learning “pod” with others students — to get them away from being bullied, feeling out of place. Or to allow them to get the special education or medical attention they need. Because their parents move often, or their family’s financial situation is tenuous. Some process information slower than some other students; others because they’re gifted intellectually and want to learn faster. Or they just like learning online.

We should be celebrating them, and their schools — not punishing them. Over 70,000 students have found a school that works for them — that they chose, and choose to stay in. And it only costs Pennsylvanians about 66 percent of what it costs if the students had attended their local school district school—that they do not want to attend.

That was the hope when the cyber charter school law was passed — with bipartisan majorities — in 2002: to accommodate students like them. To try new ways of teaching and learning. To try using the internet for positive education. And it’s working! Cybers had grown to 26,000 students pre-Covid but have soared to over 70,000 students, the second-fastest growing segment of education — second only to the percentage growth in home schooling.

Nonetheless, politicians in Harrisburg — including Governor Shapiro — seem ready to cut their funding again. That’s unbelievably cruel, short-sighted, and financially unnecessary.

What is it about our cyber charter school students that make so many self-serving lobbyists and politicians so angry?

First, school boards and teachers unions — and the legislators who do their bidding — can never, ever spend enough money. Second, they’re cutting funding to cybers to force the schools to reduce services or close — forcing students back into their local district school. Then districts would get even more money. Third, they oppose any type of parental choice in education — even for a meager 3.5 percent of students — because it takes away “their” money.

$38.6 billion on public education. $7.4 billion in the bank. Yet it only costs $1.3 billion to educate students in cyber schools. I don’t know what’s worse: their hypocrisy, the deception, or the selfish power grab.

Cyber schools work for over 70,000 students — and more each semester. They’re accountable to parents and taxpayers as they’re regulated by the Pennsylvania Department of Education. They’re far less expensive. It’s a win-win-win.

Cutting them is anti-student, anti-parent — and not necessary financially. It’s about eliminating parental choice. About grabbing more money. It’s about power politics.

It’s. Just. Wrong.

Guy Ciarrocchi is a Senior Fellow with the Commonwealth Foundation. He writes for Broad + Liberty and RealClear Pennsylvania. Follow Guy at @PaSuburbsGuy.