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Advocacy Group’s Report Contained ‘Significant Errors,’ Charter Academy Says

Commonwealth Charter Academy Defends Itself Against Claims of Mismanagement and Overstatement in Education Voters’ Report

Pennsylvania’s largest cyber charter school, Commonwealth Charter Academy (CCA), has sharply criticized a report released by the public education advocacy group Education Voters of PA, calling it riddled with “significant errors, falsehoods, and intentional omissions” aimed at tarnishing its reputation. The report, titled “Our Taxes, Their Slush Fund,” has sparked a fierce back-and-forth between the charter school and the advocacy group.

The heart of the controversy revolves around a set of spending figures published in Education Voters’ report, which was based on public records CCA provided under Pennsylvania’s Right to Know Law. These records spanned from May 2021 to June 2023 and included various expenditures made by the school. The report focused heavily on the lack of transparency in CCA’s financial dealings, specifically calling attention to what it described as questionable purchases from restaurants, entertainment venues, car dealerships, and even car washes. It also flagged transactions involving unidentified vendors, family mentors, and staff members.

According to CCA, the report greatly exaggerated the school’s spending by tens of millions of dollars. In particular, the charter school zeroed in on one glaring error: a reimbursement figure incorrectly reported as 100 times its actual value. In the report, a reimbursement for $945 to a staff member was mistakenly listed as $94,500. Education Voters of PA quickly acknowledged the mistake, admitting that the erroneous number was a result of an incorrect data transfer to a spreadsheet. The group’s executive director, Susan Spicka, issued a statement on January 27th, apologizing for the misstep and confirming that the error had been corrected.

Education Voters Pennsylvania charter school

However, Education Voters stood firm on other aspects of the report. While Spicka admitted to the $94,500 error, she strongly rejected CCA’s broader claims that the report overstated the charter school’s total expenditures by at least $64.5 million. Spicka clarified that the figures in question had been drawn from an internal document containing the entirety of CCA’s spending for a full year, not just the transactions examined in the report. According to Spicka, CCA’s criticism of these figures was misleading and out of context.

Disputes Over Transparency and Financial Oversight

While the specific errors in the report have been acknowledged and rectified, the core disagreement between CCA and Education Voters of PA centers on broader issues of transparency and accountability in charter school finances. Education Voters of PA had raised red flags over several spending categories, questioning whether public funds were being used appropriately. The report’s authors argued that the purchases made by CCA—including meals at restaurants and trips to entertainment venues—showed a lack of financial oversight and raised doubts about the school’s commitment to transparency.

However, CCA, through its attorneys, rejected these claims, stating that the report’s framing was misleading and that the school had a legitimate explanation for its spending. In particular, CCA argued that some of the expenditures flagged in the report, such as those involving family mentors and staff education reimbursements, were in line with typical school expenses and essential for providing a quality education experience. These included payments for staff to attend professional development opportunities and family mentors who help students adjust to online learning.

Furthermore, CCA took issue with the report’s critique of redacted records. The charter school had blacked out certain personally identifiable information in the records, which Education Voters claimed was an attempt to obscure key details. CCA explained that the redacted information included names of individuals who assisted with student transitions, as well as reimbursements for families who had enrolled their children in extracurricular activities outside the school’s framework. CCA argued that these redactions were standard practice to protect the privacy of individuals involved in the transactions.

Despite these disputes, both sides agree on one point: there is a need for greater scrutiny of charter school spending, especially when taxpayer dollars are involved. The disagreement, however, highlights the ongoing tension between charter schools, which often operate with more flexibility than traditional public schools, and advocacy groups pushing for more oversight and regulation to ensure that these institutions are held accountable for their financial practices.

Legal and Political Fallout

The heated debate over CCA’s spending is only one piece of the larger puzzle surrounding charter school operations in Pennsylvania. As education reform continues to be a hot-button issue in the state, the report from Education Voters of PA has put a spotlight on the financial practices of charter schools, particularly in the context of cyber schools, which have been growing in popularity in recent years.

State lawmakers, many of whom have been vocal critics of charter school funding, have pointed to the controversy as further evidence that charter schools must be held to stricter financial standards. Others, however, argue that the report and the ensuing controversy have been blown out of proportion and that charter schools like CCA provide a valuable service to Pennsylvania families, especially those seeking alternative education options for their children.

The political ramifications of the report and the ongoing debate over charter school funding could have long-term consequences for both CCA and the broader charter school movement in Pennsylvania. With calls for greater regulation of charter schools gaining traction, this controversy is unlikely to be the last time CCA or similar institutions find themselves under intense scrutiny.

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