HARRISBURG – PA Auditor General Timothy DeFoor released a performance audit of five cyber charter schools which shows from 2020 to 2023, they legally increased revenues by $425 million and reserves by 144%, due in part to an outdated funding formula that does not use actual instruction costs to determine tuition, set guidelines for spending, or set limits for cyber charter school reserve funds. DeFoor said he was the third auditor general to look at the issue and the third to come to the same conclusion: the cyber charter funding formula needs to change to reflect what is actually being spent to educate students and set reasonable limits to the amount of money the schools can keep in reserve. The recommendation is that in the next six months the Governor should appoint a task force to review the funding formula and direct it to issue a report within nine months determining a new formula that is equitable, reasonable, and sustainable and the General Assembly should act within six months of the task force’s report to facilitate the enactment of legislation. You can read the complete audit by clicking on the photo below.
TIMOTHY DEFOOR