HARRISBURG, Pa. - Some Pennsylvania groups say cyber charter schools in the state aren't making the grade, and they're urging state education officials to impose a moratorium on any new ones. Rhonda Brownstein, the executive director of the Education Law Center, says only one of the cyber charters operating in Pennsylvania in 2011 made adequate yearly progress.

"And, a Stanford University study found that both in reading and math all eight of the cyber charters that were operating at the time, a couple of years ago, performed significantly worse than public schools."

TaiMarie Adams, Co-Director of Education Policy at Public Citizens for Children and Youth, says cyber charter schools also draw millions from an already-shallow pool of education funding in Pennsylvania.

"Our traditional brick-and-mortar charters and public schools don't have the money that they need. There's been drastic education cuts. A lot of our schools have been cut to the bone."

Susan Gobreski, executive director of Education Voters of PA, says cyber charters are taking advantage of a loophole in state law, which allows them to potentially reap huge profits since they don't have to pay teachers for face-to-face interactions with students as traditional schools do.

"Our goal as a state needs to be the fair distribution of resources so that we're putting a focus on how each child has a quality opportunity to learn, not distributing resources in ways that favor some adults."

The state oversees the operations of 16 cyber charter schools currently, with eight applications pending before the department to open even more cyber charter schools for the 2013-2014 school year.

Cyber charter school proponents in Pennsylvania say they offer an education based on choice, which can better individualize learning for students than brick-and-mortar schools can. Pennsylvania law requires the state education department to do annual reviews on cyber charters and revoke the charters of those schools not meeting student performance mandated by state law.




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A new report from The Sycamore Institute reveals the persistent challenge of college affordability in Tennessee. Despite state and federal aid programs, many students still struggle to cover the costs of higher education.

Brian Straessle, executive director of the institute, said maintaining scholarships is a challenge for some students because of academic, service or renewal requirements. He pointed out students often drop out due to housing costs, food insecurity and transportation issues.

"There are also sort of cost of living challenges frequently where housing, obviously across the board, across the country, has gotten a lot more expensive," Straessle observed. "Some of these scholarship programs, they won't pay for living expenses. They will only pay for tuition and fees."

According to the report, Tennessee's postsecondary education costs vary widely by institution type. For the 2023-2024 school year, average costs ranged from more than $21,000 at public two-year colleges to more than $44,000 at private four-year institutions.

Straessle emphasized the availability of state resources and scholarships that students can access to assist with college expenses.

"Some of the biggest ones are like the HOPE scholarship that, if you're going straight from high school to undergrad, that can pay a significant chunk of your costs," Straessle outlined. "Then there's Tennessee Promise, which gets a lot of headlines, which is what they call a last-dollar scholarship."

Straessle stressed the importance of obtaining a college degree significantly affects job opportunities, earnings and overall well-being for Tennesseans.

"For most people, going to college is going to pay off in terms of your lifelong earning potential, your health and well-being being improved over the course of your life," Straessle emphasized. "Just the opportunities that are available to you, having that degree or certificate."

The report cited an estimate in 2021, 59% of "good jobs" in Tennessee, those paying at least $39,400 for ages 25-44 and $50,700 for ages 45-64 required a bachelor's degree, a figure projected to rise to 66% by 2031.

Support for this reporting was provided by Lumina Foundation.


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South Dakota librarians are implementing new policies for young readers in the new year and they are expecting future challenges, with the governor's proposed funding cuts for 2026.

Both school and public libraries across the state are required to roll out new policies Jan. 1 to "restrict the access of obscene materials by minors," online and in print, with a new law passed this year.

Dan Burniston, director of the Vermillion Public Library, said on a South Dakota Humanities Council panel, filters can be challenging, both because coders and programmers can get around them, and useful information can be filtered out.

"Take the word 'breast,' for example. If your filters are turned up high enough, you search for 'chicken breast,' you're looking for recipes; you search for 'breast cancer.' When you aggressively filter, you can filter perfectly legitimate content, too," Burniston outlined.

According to a 1973 U.S. Supreme Court case, something legally "obscene" must meet three criteria: It encourages excessive interest in sex, is patently offensive and "lacks serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value."

Nancy Swenson, technology services librarian and chair of the Intellectual Freedom Committee for the South Dakota Library Association, said librarians select materials systematically, based on reviews, recommendations and community interest.

"Our stuff that we're buying, even if it's something that, personally, you might not be comfortable with, it has artistic, literary, political or scientific value," Swenson contended. "It is not 'obscene.'"

The American Library Association said more than 4,000 unique book titles were targeted for censorship in 2023. Nearly half involved the lived experiences of LGBTQ+ people or people of color.

In her 2026 budget address, Gov. Kristi Noem proposed cutting general and federal funds to the State Library by nearly $2.5 million.

Sarah Jones-Lutter, director of the Redfield Carnegie Library, said the cuts would especially harm small libraries.

"It gets rid of interlibrary loan," Jones-Lutter stressed. "We say, 'With us small libraries, we can't afford all these books, but we can get them for you.' With this budget, that system is gone."

She added the change would also cut funding for shared databases, summer reading programs and more.

Support for this reporting was provided by The Carnegie Corporation of New York.


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Staff members who support schools are calling for greater investment from Washington state.

As next year's legislative session approaches, wages and staffing are among the biggest asks in schools among classified staff - employees other than teachers and administrators.

Melissa Roach is a peer inclusion preschool paraeducator in Tacoma who works with special education students. She said behavioral incidents are increasing across the board in schools.

"We're concerned every day that there could be a serious injury," said Roach, "because there's no staffing to get us the appropriate bodies in the room to help us."

Roach said she's seen the most turnover ever in her time as a paraeducator. She said her colleagues have expressed similar concerns.

Roach is part of the bargaining team for the Tacoma Federation of Education Support Professionals.

Unfortunately for Roach, she said the pay doesn't feel commiserate with the job she's doing - especially as violent behaviors have become worse after the pandemic.

"I love my job," said Roach, "but this is the first year that I've ever thought, you know, maybe this isn't for me anymore, and that's heartbreaking to me."

The average starting pay for education support professionals in Tacoma is about $26 per hour.

Roach said everyone working in schools is looking for more respect from leaders in the state.

"All the things that they're asking for would not happen if it wasn't for the backbone of the system," said Roach, "which is the custodians and the nurses and the paraeducators and all the people who keep things running and clean and healthy behind the scenes."

The 2025 legislative session convenes on January 13.