Wagner Urges Changes in Charter School Funding (PA)

February 18, 2011

State leaders forced into making cuts for the 2011-12 budget can slash about $225 million by revising the funding formula for charter schools, state Auditor General Jack Wagner told Norwin-area business owners and community leaders Thursday.

Wagner, the first speaker for Norwin School District’s quarterly business-education roundtable, said the formula costs taxpayers about $3,100 more for each studen t in a charter or cyber charter school than for a student in a traditional public district.

Wagner, who in October called for a moratorium on the creation of new charter and cyber charter schools, said the existing funding formula is based on the varied costs of education at school districts, not the actual costs involved in operating the charter schools.

In a report his office released last fall, Wagner said school districts paid different tuition rates for students attending the same charter school. The $225 million figure relates to the reimbursements the state pays to school districts for the roughly 73,000 students enrolled in charter and cyber charter schools.

Wagner has contended that the state law doesn’t restrict charter school reserve funds or require them to account for lower year-end expenses compared to tuition payments.

"You can’t tell me or anyone with any logical mind that it costs as much to send a child to a cyber charter school as a bricks-and-mortar school," Wagner told reporters after his speech.

The Legislature and the new governor, Tom Corbett, are dealing with a projected $4 billion deficit in the next budget year.

Wagner suggested that state leaders could balance the budget by using a "scalpel rather than a hacksaw," with ideas such as reforming the state’s contracting process to ensure competitive bidding and eliminating automatic pay increases for state officials.

Wagner also said that fixing the state’s Medicaid error rate, which he claimed ranged from 10 percent to 15 percent, would save $450 million.

Former Gov. Ed Rendell, who left office last month, disputed Wagn er’s figures, claiming the rate was closer to 4 percent.