EAST STROUDSBURG, MONROE COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU) — School officials and community advocates are turning up the pressure on state lawmakers in East Stroudsburg.
Groups from across the Poconos called for cyber charter reform and an end to Pennsylvania's three-month budget stalemate at Echo Lake Park on Wednesday.
Districts say they have missed out on almost two billion dollars in state payments while cyber schools sit on reserves and spend millions on ads and executive perks.
For the 2022-23 school year alone, Pocono-area districts paid more than 20 million dollars in cyber costs.
Finding community at Northbound & Co. in Monroe County
"The laws haven't been changed since 1997, and it's literally taking $40 million plus away from Monroe County schools. School choice, if you wanna send your kid to a cyber charter school, absolutely that is your right to do so, but that child should not be getting sometimes three and four times as much as the same child that's in a brick and mortar public school," Representative Tarah Probst said.
Reform bills have cleared the House, but remain stalled in the state senate.
Advocates say they want lawmakers to get serious and adopt a budget that fully funds our schools and holds privately-run charters accountable.
