HARRISBURG, Pa. (WHTM) — An education group is calling for a state audit of a popular cyber charter school based in Harrisburg. It comes after the group learned what some families are spending their money on with cash reimbursements.
Education Voters of Pennsylvania wants the auditor general to investigate Commonwealth Charter Academy, saying CCA isn’t spending taxpayer money wisely.
This year, Commonwealth Charter Academy gave students a one-time $200 personal field trip reimbursement.
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“We only did that this year because when we tried to plan field trips as a school, we had difficulty finding venues that would take large groups of students,” said Tim Eller, senior vice president of outreach and government relations at CCA.
Facebook screenshots obtained by Education Voters of Pennsylvania show some families discussing using the money to take trips to Dave and Busters, amusement parks, and concerts.
“It is unacceptable that while school districts are starving and property tax increases are squeezing home and business owners, cyber charter schools are so awash in excess funding that they’re using property tax dollars to pay for students’ private activities and trips,” said Susan Spicka, executive director of Education Voters of Pennsylvania.
Eller says it wasn’t just free cash. “CCA reviewed the expenses to ensure that they were educational in nature or met some type of educational standard to be reimbursable. Some field trips were not reimbursed,” Eller said.
In March, CCA also sent a one-time technology subsidy payment for $150. “It was just not a one-time willy nilly payment to families. That was to compensate them for increased costs that they’re experiencing, as well,” Eller said.
South Middleton School District Superintendent Jim Estep says CCA is flush with money because of lawmakers.
“To some degree, I don’t blame them for trying to figure out ways to pass it on to the kids. But is that what we should be doing with taxpayer dollars at the expense of the 500 regular public school districts?” said Estep.
Eller says this is a meritless attack. “We have an independent auditor that comes in every year that reviews our finances, reviews our books, and, you know, completes an audit of that just like a traditional public school district,” Eller said.
CCA conducts its own independent audit apart from the state.
In an email to abc27 on Tuesday, the Pennsylvania Department of the Auditor General said, “We have received the request to do the audit and we are carefully considering, but it’s important to remember that our staff resources are severely limited as we work to get our budget restored. We do have an audit of 12 school districts happening now through our Bureau of Performance Audits and need to complete that work first.”
In March, the auditor general said school audits will return to the Pennsylvania Department of Education.