Pandemic-Associated Cyber Charter Enrollments and the Impacts on Rural School Districts in Pennsylvania

Abstract

This study investigated the financial impact of cyber charters in Pennsylvania, parents’ decision-making about cyber enrollment, and traditional rural school district and cyber leader responses to changing cyber enrollments to inform Commonwealth cyber charter policy. The data suggest that cyber enrollments and costs to rural districts have dramatically increased over time and cyber charter achievement data lag behind both brick-and-mortar charters and traditional public schools. Rural district leaders are experiencing increasing financial pressure due to cyber charter enrollment that, in many cases, has reached crisis proportions. Not only do cyber charter tuition payments affect the ability of a school district to provide needed instructional services and facility maintenance, but they threaten the viability of a school district. Cyber charter leaders, on the other hand, describe their cyber charter schools as uniquely responsive to families and students in ways that are atypical in traditional public schools, a perspective confirmed by parent survey data. Parents see cyber charters fundamentally as an option that affords their children more individualized attention and flexibility, while giving them more curricular control. By understanding effects, responses, and gaps, this work can inform policymakers about the ways in which charter policy is being experienced by students, families, cyber directors, and rural school district leaders.