SOUTH WHITEHALL TWP., Pa. — Parkland School District will not pay public charter schools until state lawmakers adopt a budget, the school board resolved.
Since members of the Pennsylvania General Assembly missed their June 30 budget deadline, school districts such as Parkland have not received state funding on which they rely to keep schools running.
Roughly 20% of Parkland’s revenue in the district’s 2024-25 budget comes from the state, according to a summary released last year.
School districts also are responsible for paying tuition to public and cyber charter schools for students who opt to attend those institutions rather than Parkland’s own schools.
"It is to try to put pressure on the state."Parkland School District Superintendent Mark Madson
As the district looks for ways to save money and push lawmakers to pass a budget, Parkland’s school board unanimously adopted a resolution Tuesday directing administrators to withhold all payment from charter schools until the state budget impasse ends.
“This is just a way to showcase that we're all kind of feeling this right now — we're all feeling the pain, inclusive of cyber charters,” Parkland Superintendent Mark Madson said.
“It is to try to put pressure on the state.”
Once the flow of state money resumes, Parkland again will pay the charter schools at rates prescribed by state law, plus all of the funds district officials withheld.
Decision follows other districts
Parkland joins a handful of other Lehigh Valley school districts who have voted to stop paying charter schools during the impasse.
Bethlehem Area School District, the region’s first school district to limit payments for charter schools, adopted a policy in September holding back 30% of what it would otherwise pay.
Several other districts soon followed suit. Salisbury Township School District opted to withhold 21% of payments to charter schools; Northampton Area Schools, like Bethlehem, cut payments to charter schools 30% during the budget impasse.
Northern Lehigh, acting at a meeting last week, was the first district to cut off payments to charter schools entirely until it receives state funding.
Payments to charter schools, especially cyber charters, have long been a pain point for Parkland school directors.
Board members have pushed for a revised funding formula for charter schools, greater oversight for how charters spend money and more accountability when the schools’ students perform poorly on state tests, fail to graduate or otherwise miss performance benchmarks.
Typically, before Parkland School Board votes to pay its bills each meeting, at least one member explains that the district wishes it did not have to foot the bill for the institutions, which they help bankroll but do not control.
