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For Immediate
Release
10/30/09
Education Chairs to Unveil Comprehensive
Charter School Reform Proposal
Addressing Additional Oversight & Accountability to the 12-Year Old
Law
HARRISBURG – Keeping with their commitment to choice and options for
Pennsylvania's students and their families, Senator Jeffrey Piccola (R-15),
Majority Chairman of the Senate Education Committee, and Senator Andrew Dinniman
(D-19), Minority Chairman, announced today their plans to introduce a
comprehensive reform package to update the state's 12 year-old Charter School
Law that will facilitate the creation of charter schools while improving
oversight and accountability. This will be first major rewrite of the statute
since its inception.
"The Legislature's decision in 1997 to allow the creation of charter schools
as an alternative to traditional brick-and-mortar schools has brought unique
educational opportunities to our Commonwealth and provided exciting options and
choices for students. I was pleased to help author this monumental statute,"
said Piccola. "But in the 12 years since the law was initiated, we have learned
what works and what does not work with the current law. We must make this
public school choice option available to more families, while putting more
controls in place to prevent potential abuse."
"There is a clear need for additional accountability on Pennsylvania's
charter school community in order to prevent the abuses we have seen in recent
months. As a strong proponent of these important public school options, I will
not stand by and tolerate such flagrant abuse of the public trust," Dinniman
said. "Although the statute is working and charter school growth remains strong,
it's important that we establish more checks to ensure these public school
options are not tarnished."
Under their proposal, a number of reforms will be made to facilitate the
creation and continued operation of Pennsylvania charter and cyber charter
schools. The bill will allow institutions of higher education, including any
community college or accredited college, to approve the creation of a charter
school. It would also allow an intermediate unit or a local board of school
directors to create a cyber charter school. The bill revises current
application and appeals procedures, thereby standardizing and streamlining the
administrative processes involved in the creation and day-to-day operations of
charter and cyber charter schools.
The second component to Piccola and Dinniman's legislation would establish
greater checks and balances on the Commonwealth's charters by incorporating
major provisions of oversight and accountability on the school's administrators,
board members, and management companies. These were developed in response to
several stories written by The Philadelphia Inquirer on the fiscal abuses of
some Philadelphia-based charter schools over the last several months.
This legislation would also create the Office of Charter and Cyber Charter
Schools within the Department of Education, which shall have oversight of
charter school and cyber charter school functions, including the ability to
investigate complaints of fraud, waste and mismanagement and make referrals to
law enforcement. Additionally, the bill improves accountability of all charter
school administrators and board members by tying their performance to the
Pennsylvania Ethics Act and other standards of conduct recommended by a national
charter school law model.
"After 12 years without major revisions, it's time to revise the charter
school law to reflect what we know works and what doesn't work," said Lawrence
Jones, Jr., President of the Pennsylvania Coalition of Charter Schools. "The
charter school community welcomes the opportunity to work with the General
Assembly to ensure that the charter law continues to make accountability a top
priority and enable charter schools to foster even greater student achievement.
We applaud Senators Piccola and Dinniman for leading this ambitious legislative
effort."
"Our Committee took an important first step back in March when I launched
this effort by holding a public hearing to receive suggestions on how it can be
improved and addressing the issue of accountability on our charter and cyber
charter schools," said Piccola. "In the course of this process, I remain open
to holding additional hearings in the future if it appears more information
needs to be obtained and to further vet this legislation. In the coming days,
we will be seeking cosponsors for our legislation and working on a bipartisan
basis in this effort."
According to the Pennsylvania Department of Education, approximately 67,000
students are currently enrolled in the state's charter schools and being
educated in this public school choice model.
Contact:
Colleen Greer
(Piccola's Office)
(717) 787-6801
Adam Cirucci (Dinniman's Office)
610-692-2112
Additional Information:
Education
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