MIDLAND – In the wake of last week’s Pennsylvania Supreme Court Decision re: Slippery Rock Area School District v. Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School, PA Cyber CEO Dr. Nick Trombettaissued the following statement:
“This surprising and disappointing decision serves to illustrate how much work remains in creating an innovative, effective, and equitable system of public education that truly meets the needs of all 21st century students, and of modern society. Wednesday’s ruling reverses previous decisions by both the Pennsylvania Department of Education and Commonwealth Court in support of PA Cyber’s kindergarten program for four-year-olds.
While we are disappointed, we want to assure the more than 600 families who are impacted by this outcome that PA Cyber will do everything necessary to continue – without interruption – the education of these kindergartners, whose parents exercised their right to educational choice. We have a responsibility to those children, and I am confident that Governor Corbett and his administration are as committed to that responsibility as we are. Nobody wants to remove 600 kids from a classroom in the middle of a school year.
Over the days and weeks ahead, PA Cyber will work with the Pennsylvania Department of Education, which serves as our chartering agent, to determine how we will fund this crucial investment in early childhood learning. In the long term, we will remain undaunted in our efforts to provide Pennsylvania students with high-quality educational opportunities, and Pennsylvaniafamilies with groundbreaking public school choices.
The Pennsylvania legislature intended charter schools to be laboratories of innovation and reform, a mandate and vision that PA Cyber has always sought to embrace and fulfill. The Court’s decision will serve to inspire the administration, faculty, and staff of PA Cyber to work with greater diligence and creativity in developing the kind of public education system Pennsylvanians need and deserve. I am hopeful it also will serve to demonstrate to policymakers the urgent need for a stronger charter school law.”