An open letter to Pennsylvania Legislators

It looks like we are going to get hit. I got this last night from our CEO. Please write / call the leaders in the Senate and House to let them know that you oppose cuts that have been proposed by the governor (as much as 30%), House Bill 530 (4-8%) and other proposals that attempt to treat charter schools as second class public schools. Here is my sample letter.

 

 

 

 

Dear Senator, State Legislator, and Governor,

The current plan to cut charter school funding to the lowest common denominator will hurt charter schools severely. Our school, PA Leadership Charter School has 2500 students. We do not advertise, and we do not have an economy of scale to operate at just under $6000 per student. We will be forced to increase class size, lay off teachers, and move to turn-key solutions that will eliminate teacher and student interaction. How can this be helping students? I oppose cuts that have been proposed by the governor (as much as 30%), House Bill 530 (4-8%) and other proposals that attempt to treat charter schools as second class public schools. Raising the Education budget from $350-$400 million at the expense of charter school is a mistake. I am aware of the efforts in Harrisburg by my elected state legislators, House Representatives, and Senators to undermine the support for PA public-charter schools and to cut funding to the charter-education model that serves individual Pennsylvanians who cannot thrive or succeed in their local school district. Charter students are public-school students, too, and their education and successes are just as important as their district counterparts.

I am asking that you please give your support to equality and fairness in the allocation of public-school state funding and, in doing so, provide the freedom of educational choice to all Pennsylvania parents and students.

Creating legislation against charter schools makes PA’s educational communities feel like second-class citizens when they do not deserve to be treated or served as such. Please do not cast a vote that will further distance or delay our state’s need for the school choice and individual-student accommodations provided by PA charter schools.

Please update me on how you plan to support Pennsylvania charter and cyber-charter schools so that my family and I can feel confident about the future of school choice. I look forward to your response.,

Can you please get back to me on this?

Please consider writing your legislator about this. Some of the most innovative public charter schools are the smallest. Governor Wolf's budget cuts target these schools, and will punish them severely for innovation. You can send a template email at this site in 5 minutes. 

If you are feeling more ambitious, then you can find your legislator by typing in your address here. Please consider sending a quick email to him. Also send a note to the governor, and your state senator at these links. 

• the governor
• state senator

Pat Parris

The PA Budget cutters should read this first before cutting the education budget.

Dear Legislator, 


I have been a distance-learning educator for over ten years. During this time, I have seen many students who have been genuinely helped by this form of education. 
One thing that makes our learning platform different is access to quick responses from a teacher. Our students benefit most from this individual attention that we are able to reassure them with. They use the Open Source Moodle platform, and we communicate with many of them each day.  Our Moodle Platform is equipped with an instant messenger to help students at formative times when they begin to struggle. This access to a learning coach will be greatly diminished by a funding cut. 
I meet with students in groups every day in a multi-media classroom. My students have formed life long friendship with other students through this setting as well as looking to their teachers as mentors. I have been able to conduct these classroom sessions while in Panama, China and Quebec. The opportunity to tutor students in this setting will be greatly diminished. Teachers will have less time for synchronous instruction if funding is cut. 
Over time we get to know our students through their writing and responses in the classroom. We can access their group interaction, as well as their knowledge and skill in academics with the technological tools of multi-media classrooms, internal email, instant messaging and highly interactive lessons.  
If our students use distance education as a form of correspondence school, then they could have been doing this in the early 20th century. While it is true that we could still develop a relationship with them through their writing, it is not a reason to spend this kind of money on learning though the Internet. There is nothing new about correspondence based learning. The Cyber Charter Schools of today use technology to rapidly reach students at critical times of learning. We can catch them at thresholds of learning to ease the transition from one concept to another. We can foster a mentoring relationship with them when we celebrate milestones of accomplishment together, and can correct or redirect them when they need it. Most importantly, we can prepare them for the 21st century in a way that could have never been accomplished in the 1900’s. 
Our students are learning to reason with technological change. This is quite different from traditional education that clings to a process that is based upon rewarding compliant behavior. In a global world of change, someone needs to be testing new methods of learning that will eventually become mainstream. As other countries catch up with our standard of living, the process of preparation for the real world of work must change with it. 
Will we regret the cuts in this funding when other countries do a better job of preparing students to interact in a world where computers are the universal language? Pennsylvania will be rewarded for their leadership in connecting real world change with the skills necessary to face it. Our legislators in Pennsylvania should follow in the footsteps of our forefathers and do the right thing. Our Commonwealth has a stellar record of advocating for woman’s suffrage, homeschooling, equal rights, and family values when they were not popular. Over time our citizens will embrace the principles of educational choice and funding which follow the student instead of the system. Who is to say that this is not the next great revolution in education, and Pennsylvania is leading the way. 
For another point of view, please read this article.http://www.dailylocal.com/opinion/20150226/another-view-defending-cyber-charter-schools