According to a new report from public education advocacy group Education Voters PA, Pennsylvania’s largest cyber charter school spent nearly $600,000 at car dealerships and car washes in one year, and $400,000 on entertainment expenses. The advocacy group obtained check registers through right-to-know requests from Commonwealth Charter Academy (CCA). Check registers from July 2022 through June 2023 also found the charter paid $116,000 in dining expenses, including to bars and vineyards. “Every dollar that CCA spends on DoorDash or luxury vehicles, or at brew pubs or vineyards or exclusive clubs, is a dollar that was paid by a Pennsylvania taxpayer,” Education Voters said in the report. CCA spokesperson Timothy Eller did not comment on the report’s specific findings but said in a statement that “every dollar that CCA receives is used for the benefit of all enrolled students,” stating that the expenditures were “cherry-picked.” Public education advocates say Pennsylvania’s cyber charters drain school district budgets and operate with little transparency. The report calls for the state to audit cyber charter schools to verify whether their reporting and expenditures comply with state law and calls for the enactment of a flat $9,500 tuition rate from school districts to cyber charters. Currently, regular education tuition rates range from $7,659 to $28,959 per student, depending on the student’s sending district. Read more in the Inquirer.
Source: Philadelphia Inquirer; 1/27/2025