Blue Pennsylvania: Last Week and Next Week

One of the major headlines from last week concerned the U.S. Supreme Court’s inclination toward allowing publicly funded religious charter schools in the United States.  Such a ruling would certainly continue to blur the church-state boundaries.  The high court decisions had previously allowed individual students to use publicly funded vouchers to pay for studies at religious institutions.  If the Supreme Court sides with the plaintiffs in Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board v. Drummond case, this will open up an entirely new industry of religious schools receiving almost all of their funding through state and local taxes.

But if our U.S. Constitution had a clause akin to the one found in the Pennsylvania Constitution, which tells us that “[the legislature] shall provide for the maintenance and support of a thorough and efficient system of public education to serve the needs of the Commonwealth,” it is possible that the conservative justices might have a more difficult time rationalizing their decision in favor of the charter.

Why? Because the Oklahoma charter school in question is the St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School - a cyber charter school.  Although it is the religious nature and not the academics of the school that is on trial, cyber charters nationwide are notorious in providing inferior quality academics to their students.  That situation is no different from what we find in Pennsylvania’s cyber charters.  And while these charters provide a substandard education, a recently released study by Auditor General Tim DeFoor reports that cyber charters are expensive to run, which is odd for a business that has very little overhead like classrooms and utility costs.  Yet per student expenses can run as high as $25,100 for students in regular classes, and $60,166 for special education students.  DeFoor’s office also found that cyber charters used its cash reserves to pay for real estate, gift cards, and bonuses. 

As many of you already know, it was the “thorough and efficient system of public education” clause that prompted Judge Renée Cohn Jubelirer’s decision to declare Pennsylvania’s system of funding public education to be unconstitutional.

Although many members in the General Assembly were motivated enough by the Auditor General’s report to take legislative action, that has not stopped some Republicans from doubling down on the status quo. House Republican Education chair Bryan Cutler, for instance, has said, “I believe that cyber charter schools provide a fair opportunity for all students, especially those in underperforming schools, and that this legislation would hurt them more than help our finances,” Cutler said. 

We need to get real – not only about how much money we are willing to invest in public education, but how that money is spent.  Below are two charts.  The first chart plots the rank of educational spending against the rank of overall educational quality and attainment by state.  The second chart plots the rank of leniency of charter laws against the overall rank in educational quality and attainment by state.*

The orange trend line in both charts is the line of best fit for all those little orange dots.  As you can see, educational spending aligns more closely to how educated a state’s population is than the laws that are favorable for charterization of the public education system.

What you can do.

This coming week will afford you ample opportunities to make your voice heard in favor of public education.  A rally this Tuesday in Harrisburg will allow you to meet with your state senator and representative, as well as to demonstrate your support for full and fair funding for all of Pennsylvania’s public schools, while reigning in the costs of the cyber charter system  You can sign up here.

The Pennsylvania Policy Center has a page where you can write to your legislators directly to ask them to support Governor Shapiro’s education budget for this year.  It does not matter where you live, just as long as you are a resident of Pennsylvania.  It takes a few seconds if you use the generic language, but you can personalize it, and if you have a little extra time, that would be a good thing to do.  When you are done, get others to do the same.  You can access that page here. 

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On a different note, if you are looking for a way to oppose the Trump-Republican budget, please join us for a Good Trouble Phone Bank during the next few weeks. SIGN UP HERE (The location will be disclosed once you register).

We’ll be making calls in partnership with Senator Art Haywood, Neighborhood Networks, the Pennsylvania Policy Center and Action Together NEPA. Our calls will be focused in targeted Congressional districts where constituent pressure will be most impactful. We’ll be asking constituents to contact their own representatives to oppose cuts to Medicaid and SNAP. 

You don’t have to be an expert on policy or phone banking.

We’ll provide phone banking support. You bring your laptop, phone, earbuds, and concern for your fellow Pennsylvanians. Please join us: SIGN UP HERE.

* As you move from left to right, these are the order of the states on the chart.

1	Massachusetts	12	Illinois	34	South Carolina	35	Tennessee
2	Maryland	13	Rhode Island	23	North Carolina	36	Indiana
3	Vermont	14	Delaware	24	Michigan	37	Texas
4	Colorado	15	New York	25	Wyoming	38	New Mexico
5	Connecticut	16	Oregon	26	California	39	Alabama
6	Virginia	17	Maine	27	Georgia	40	Kentucky
7	New Jersey	18	Hawaii	28	Iowa	41	Nevada
8	New Hampshire	19	Montana	29	Missouri	42	Oklahoma
9	Washington	20	Florida	30	Ohio	43	Arkansas
10	Minnesota	21	Wisconsin	31	Alaska	44	Louisiana
11	Utah	22	Pennsylvania	32	Arizona	45	Mississippi
				33	Idaho	46	West Virginia