The Blairsville-Saltsburg School District is designing its own cyber/charter school, joining a movement among public school districts across the commonwealth to combat private charter schools that are competing with them while at the same time draining local school district finances for their funding.
On Indiana In the Morning on WCCS yesterday, Blairsville-Saltsburg Superintendent Philip Martell said the charter school issue has been a problem for years, since school districts are forced by state law to pay cyber and charter school fees and tuition for students from within their districts.
Blairsville-Saltsburg is developing its own cyber/charter school to debut as early as the next school year. Purchase Line intends to start its “Red Dragon Cyber Academy” as early as this fall as well, and Penns Manor, United, Homer-Center, Marion Center, and Indiana Area already have in-house cyber or charter schools.
Martell says a key to forming a charter school will be proposed state legislation that would require students to attend their district’s cyber school, but whether or not a bill eventually passes, school districts are going to have to offer cyber options.
Martell says the new money coming from the federal government’s covid relief package could be used to establish the cyber school, and he says that if the proposed state legislation ever becomes law, the cyber school would be on solid footing right from the start.
Martell says Blairsville-Saltsburg’s planning is well underway. The district is working with a new learning system called Canvas that will house both on-site and remote learning within the district.
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