May 9, 2025
The May 8 hearing in Stroudsburg — the third in a series led by Representative Peter Schweyer — once again demonstrated a concerning pattern of one-sided testimony and misleading narratives surrounding cyber charter schools in Pennsylvania.
Despite being framed as a nonpartisan, fact-finding discussion, these hearings have featured 15 speakers — 12 of whom have promoted an agenda clearly aligned with eliminating school choice. Instead of focusing on balanced policy dialogue, these sessions have served as platforms to discredit cyber charter schools and misinform the public.
At yesterday’s hearing, Maura McInerney of the Education Law Center was presented as an expert witness. However, her testimony revealed a fundamental misunderstanding of Pennsylvania’s cyber charter school law and repeated rhetoric drawn from sources with well-documented credibility issues. The Education Law Center, alongside organizations such as Research for Action and Education Voters of PA, has a history of producing inaccurate, misleading reports that too often go unchecked by the media.
Equally troubling was the continued reliance on misleading comparisons between cyber charter schools and traditional public school districts, particularly from the Pennsylvania School Boards Association (PSBA) and Superintendent Cosmas Curry. These comparisons ignore critical differences in student demographics, service delivery models, and cost structures. Cyber schools serve students from diverse backgrounds across dozens of districts, operate without the benefit of local tax revenues, and are held to the same academic and accountability standards. Yet, Curry and PSBA continue to use selective data and incomplete narratives to paint a distorted picture that supports their policy goals rather than the truth.
If policymakers are truly interested in reform, they must move beyond these biased forums and engage in honest, data-driven discussions about the actual costs of cyber education, the needs of families, and the inequities in the current funding system. This is not a partisan issue — it is about preserving parental rights and educational freedom.
Thousands of Pennsylvania families have chosen cyber charter schools because traditional options failed to meet their children’s needs. Stripping away these choices under the guise of reform is not only irresponsible — it’s unjust.
I call on lawmakers, parents, and stakeholders across the Commonwealth to reject political theater and demand meaningful, student-centered solutions. Let’s fix what’s broken, not take away what’s working.
