Pennsylvania has 14 cyber charter schools, which enroll 35,000 students. Cyber schools must be approved by the state Department of Education, which denied all new applications in 2013 (6) and 2012 (8).

The Commonwealth Connections Academy site to be opened in West Penn Township won't have to go through a new application process through the state; instead, it will be another location for Commonwealth Connections, which has sites in Harrisburg, Philadelphia, Lehighton, Pittsburgh, Scranton and Williamsport.Why is the state rejecting applications for new cyber charter schools?David Lapp, a staff attorney for the Education Law Center of Pennsylvania, testified before the state Dept. of Ed. in November 2013. The Education Law Center is a statewide, nonprofit legal advocacy organization which strives to ensure that all Pennsylvania students has access to quality public education, according to Brett Schaeffer, Communications Director for the Education Law Center.Lapp, who was a teacher for nine years in Philadelphia charter schools, told the state board that the law center's research into cyber schools uncovered a number of problems, including improper enrollment practices, inadequate special education services, poor overall academic outcomes and "the devastating financial drain on our public school districts." He proposed a moratorium on cyber school expansion until the expansion of such schools is better regulated.Supporters of cyber schools tout their advantages, such as flexibility of class time, since the student can go on-line as needed. For example, at Commonwealth Connections Academy, high school students spend about 50 percent of their school time on line, while middle school students are on line for about 30% of their school hours.Also, the cyber students have the opportunity to go on field trips, participate in special projects with other students, or attend group meetings with other students and educators. Familes of students who attend Commonwealth Connections Academy locations in Pennsylvania give the school a 97 percent approval rating. Also, the cyber students are still held accountable to state standards, and must take the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment tests (PSSA's) for grades 3-8, and the high school level Keystone Exams in math, literature and biology. Schools, public, public cyber and charter, are rated by the Dept. of Ed. School Performance Profiles, which are available at

www.pde.state.pa.us.Do Cyber Schools Defund Public Schools?Lapp said that the current cyber school funding formula is flawed. Public, "brick and mortar" schools must pay the cyber school based on the cost to educate a student in the home district. This is not correct, Lapp said, because the cost to educate a student through cyber education should cost less, since there is no physical school structure."Today that view is broadly accepted, yet we are still operating under the same funding formula," Lapp testified. "The School District of Philadelphia had over a $300 million budget deficit, much of which can be attributed to increasing charter school payments, including cyber charter schools; dozens of school districts in both rural and suburban communities are in similar financial distress."For the 2012-13 school year, the Tamaqua Area School District paid out $625,000 for 60 students who were attending cyber schools not associated with the district. The district has since launched its own cyber school, with all high school core courses available on line. in 2013, five members of the graduating class were on-line students.