On Tuesday, legislative leaders called to the stand Dr. Maurice Flurie, the former CEO of Commonwealth Charter Academy (CCA), Pennsylvania’s largest cyber charter school.
Cyber charter schools are publicly funded charter schools that are required to provide most of their instruction online.
In Pennsylvania, cyber charters were first permitted in 2002. They are authorized by the Pennsylvania Department of Education and operate statewide; any child who lives in the state can seek to enroll in any cyber charter school.
Pennsylvania and Ohio are the states with the largest cyber charter enrollment in the nation. In 2020-21, Pennsylvania had 61,000 students enrolled in its 14 cyber charters, a number that has climbed sharply during the pandemic.
Cyber charters are funded by payments from the home school district of their students. For each student from a district that enrolls in a cyber charter, the sending district pays the cyber a rate based on what the district spends on average per pupil – one rate for students in regular education and another for students with disabilities. This means that tuition rates paid to a particular school can be vastly different, although students are receiving the same education.
Flurie became CEO of Commonwealth Charter Academy in 2011 and stepped down in June 2020. During his tenure, he said, enrollment in the school increased “tenfold.” Flurie testified Tuesday that CCA currently enrolls 21,000 students from across Pennsylvania. He testified about CCA’s various academic programs and support systems for students.
A typical day in the life as CEO of CCA, he said, would include checking in with other members of management about enrollment or academic performance, observing virtual instruction and teaching, and conversing with members of the General Assembly to help shape legislation.
“Typically I would be on the phone with legislators or the Department of Education to make sure we were doing what needed to be done from a compliance standpoint,” Flurie said, “or from a legislative standpoint to help influence legislation or give information to legislators if they were looking at those types of matters.”
Cross examination will continue Thursday, and we will have more to share about his testimony after it concludes.