Governor’s charter school initiative has area support

By ERIC SEIVERLING

eseiverling@yourmvi.com

Several Mon Valley school districts are among the more than 100 across Pennsylvania that have called on legislature to enact Gov. Tom Wolf’s proposed Charter School Law reforms. 

The changes would allow school districts to reinvest an additional $280 million into classrooms while ensuring charter schools are held accountable for the quality of education they provide.

“Every child in Pennsylvania deserves the opportunity to receive a high-quality education, but our current law allows some charter schools to perform poorly at the expense of students enrolled in traditional district schools,” Wolf said in a statement. “My charter school law proposal will benefit all students while helping to ensure all schools are held to the same quality and ethics standards.”

Mon Valley districts supporting the reform include Belle Vernon Area, California Area, Charleroi Area, Ringgold and West Jefferson Hills. 

Wolf’s package of policy and budget initiatives includes applying the special education funding formula to all charter schools, establishing a statewide cyber charter tuition rate and improving the tuition redirection process. The governor claims the changes will better align payments made to charter schools with the actual cost of educating students and clarification of the redirection process will increase fairness, accountability and transparency.

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