Wendy O., from Montgomery County

For the last 20 years, I have been fortunate to be a part of one of Pennsylvania’s most successful public schools — the Souderton Charter School Collaborative in Montgomery County. 

It consistently meets or exceeds statewide goals and has garnered various educational achievement awards and, most important, it empowers teachers and offers individualized support to every child, wherever they are on their educational journey.

The latest state budget proposal would in many cases render charter schools unable to provide adequate special education services.

I joined the public charter school community 25 years ago after my family’s personal experience with public education. When my eldest daughter with special needs began kindergarten, it quickly became clear that the goal of the district was to label her and push her into a segregated special education classroom. 

I dreamed of a school where my son and daughter could learn together in the same space, regardless of their individual needs. Thankfully, my family found a charter school that enables students to share learning spaces and learn to appreciate each other while reaching their individual potential. 

Charter schools like Souderton were developed to form innovative teaching methods, new professional opportunities for teachers and expanded choices for parents and students. That takes hard work, great teachers and careful budgeting — we put 70% of our revenue into student instruction and keep administrative and facility costs extremely low. 

The state uses a formula that considers each district's total spending to reimburse charter schools for the cost of their students’ tuition on a per-pupil basis. The formula sets different tuition rates for special education students and regular education students. School districts then keep about 25% of each student’s allocation to offset stranded costs. Last school year, Souderton Charter received about $770,000 in tuition payments for students with special educational needs and we spent all of this funding on special education services.

It’s patently wrong and unfair to create a second-class funding structure for educating special education students in charter schools. Financially punishing charter schools for providing innovative, effective and appropriate special education services is not the way to serve the families and children of Pennsylvania.

Souderton Charter believes the state can fund special education needs while acknowledging that students require different levels of funding with a three-tiered system that splits each spending range down the middle. This would save districts money and share the exposure equally between district and charter school.

The Wolf administration’s plan for funding charter school special education services would irreparably damage charter schools.

The budget proposal would return us to the days when only families who can purchase homes in “good” school districts or pay for a private education can exercise school choice.

Wendy is Director of Organizational Development and Founder of Souderton Charter School Collaborative.