HARRISBURG School officials worry about charter funding

The Legislature included charter school reimbursements in the education bill.
HARRISBURG (AP) -- When state lawmakers passed a budget last year that called for the state to shoulder part of the cost of educating charter school pupils, school districts welcomed the financial help.
But as legislative leaders continue wrangling with Gov. Ed Rendell's administration over education funding, school officials worry that the flow of dollars won't stretch in the coming year to accommodate enrollment growth in the publicly funded, privately operated schools.
"Early on, we warned the state about the impact of charter schools," said Patricia Crawford, spokeswoman for the Pittsburgh School District, where 956 pupils were enrolled in charter schools last year. "The district has asked the state to consider the fact that ... urban school districts were bearing the brunt of the charter school costs."
During the 2002-03 school year, the state reimbursed school districts for 30 percent of their charter school costs based on enrollment for the 2001-02 school year. The reimbursement requirement was included in an education bill passed as part of the budget for the fiscal year that ended June 30.
School districts previously were required to pay the full share of charter school instructional costs, using a combination of state and local tax money.
Governor's recommendation
For the fiscal year that began July 1, Rendell recommended that the nearly $53 million in state funding that was reimbursed to districts in the previous budget year remain unchanged.
Based on that amount, House and Senate lawmakers have passed education funding bills that call for districts to receive either the same reimbursement as last year or 30 percent of their total cost, based on their 2002-03 charter school enrollment, whichever is lower.
The change means that districts are likely to receive a 30 percent reimbursement only if their charter school enrollments decline, said Jay Himes, executive director of the Pennsylvania Association of School Business Officials.
Kate Philips, Rendell's spokeswoman, said she did not know whether the charter school reimbursement provision will be negotiable as the administration continues talks with the Legislature about whether to fund the governor's education initiatives.
One district's experience
David Cerra, business manager for the Carbondale Area School District in Lackawanna County, is among school officials who hope it can be changed. The district's charter school reimbursement for 2001-02 enrollment was $14,000, based on a handful of pupils who attended a school serving special-education pupils.
During the 2002-03 school year, a new school that the district had opposed opened, bringing its total charter school enrollment to about 50 pupils, Cerra said.
"This school has had a crippling effect on our operations," he said. "We're looking at costs in the $300,000-plus range for 2002-03, and with 70 kids for next year we could be looking at close to a half-million dollars."
Timothy Allwein, spokesman for the Pennsylvania School Boards Association, said that while charter school funding is important, an overall increase in education funding will likely compensate for any cap on the state reimbursement.