HARRISBURG – Gov. Tom Wolf highlighted pending implementation of charter school regulations developed by the PA Department of Education. The regulations, which align public charter school operations and oversight with that of traditional public schools, were approved in March by the Independent Regulatory Review Commission and will now go to the Legislative Reference Bureau for publication in the PA Bulletin. The regulations provide application requirements for entities seeking to open a charter school, regional charter school, and cyber charter school and ensure that all PA students are able to access them. They also require school districts and charter schools to follow the same fiscal management and auditing standards; streamline the process for charter schools to request tuition payments from school districts and the state; and provide a method for charter schools to meet the employee health care requirements in state law. There were 179 charter schools and cyber charters in PA during the 2021-22 school year. All 67 PA counties have students enrolled in some form of charter school.
GOV. TOM WOLF