Lindsay Bonanno's family is one of the thousands of families that decided to choose a cyber charter school, over a brick and mortar district in 2020.
"I think more people are doing it. I think more people are changing to this day even after school has started," she said. The Susquehanna Township parent is a mom to a 15-year-old son and stepmom to a 12 and 9-year-old who are all enrolled in Commonwealth Charter Academy.
Bonanno admits, one of the biggest reasons her family made the decision was because of COVID-19. Additionally, the family decided if the children had to learn online, they wanted that education to be provided by a charter academy that was experienced in cyber learning and had a well-established program.
"I have a lot of people that are really interested in asking questions about the charter school and what our experience is. And, they're making the switch," she said as she emphasized the amount of resources the school provides, its history and experience in cyber learning, and the responsiveness of teachers.
"We've doubled our enrollment from last year to this year," said Tim Eller, of Commonwealth Charter Academy, who added charter schools saw a large increase especially during the months of July and August.
PA Cyber, echoed that sentiment.
"Right after the 4th of July weekend we were receiving over 1,100 inquiries a week," said Brian Hayden, CEO of PA Cyber. Hayden said PA Cyber is marking its 20th anniversary, and he believes that experience helped prepare educators for the boom in students. PA Cyber typically starts the school year with 9,500 students. This year it started with nearly 11,500.
The Pennsylvania Coalition of Public Charter Schools (PCPCS) reports that since March 13, 14,000 new students have enrolled in the state's 14 public cyber charter schools, leaving their assigned school districts behind. In addition, charter schools have had to purchase more laptops and hire more teachers to provide for the new enrollment boost.
However, PCPCS said those schools were not compensated for students who enrolled between March 13-June 30, costing the charter schools $4.9 million in taxpayer funds. Act 13 of 2020, passed by the General Assembly, temporarily froze funding for all public schools to ensure consistency. However, that also meant that any student who transferred into a public charter school did not have their per-pupil funding follow them, said a spokesperson for PA Coalition of Public Charter Schools.
For CCA, Eller said it enrolled around 650 students during the months that charter schools were not compensated. Many charter schools covered the difference using reserve funds and CARES act money. However, some charter professionals admit they would like to see reforms take shape in Pennsylvania in the future.
"We believe that every dollar should follow the student," said Eller. "Right now, every student is getting 75-cents on the dollar when they go to a charter school. And, a school like CCA, we actually believe it should be 100% because that money belongs to the student."
When FOX43 asked the PA Coalition of Public Charter Schools about what changes it would like to see in the future, a spokesperson said the coalition is supportive of updating PA's Charter School Law through comprehensive charter reform.
"We have been working for many years to update this outdated law to ensure additional transparency and equity. We don't believe that calls from school district leaders to arbitrarily cut funding for public charter school students is appropriate or equitable. The Coalition remains supportive of a comprehensive, bipartisan funding commission to study how we fund our public charter schools so that we can have an open and thorough discussion about this important issue," said Jessica Hickernell, spokesperson.
Meantime, charter schools are also working to tackle the question of how many students will stay enrolled after the pandemic ends.
"That's a really good question, a bit of an unknown. If I have to make a prediction I would think probably a significant number of them will return to their traditional schools," said Hayden. "Many of the families that we had coming this summer were different than the families that we typically attract to the school. You know, this summer parents and families were telling us they were coming for two main reasons: the health and safety of their kids obviously. And, the second reason they obviously were not satisfied with the remote learning that the traditional schools had provided in March, April, May, you know throughout the spring."
For Bonanno, she said her child and stepchildren who are currently enrolled in charter school seem to be enjoying the experience. And, they still see their friends through outside social activities such as sports. At the end of the school year, the family plans to regroup and evaluate if they will stay in cyber school long term. But, for now Bonanno said she doesn't regret the decision to go into an established cyber program at Commonwealth Charter Academy.
"I think people are nervous to make the switch because they think it's different or charter schools aren't real schools. But, none of that is the case. You know what I mean? They're still getting a great education," said Bonanno.