A western Pennsylvania state House member wants to ensure school districts offer yellow buses, not transit passes, to all charter school students.
State Rep. Natalie Mihalek (R-Upper St. Clair) is seeking support for that requirement, after she learned that some Penn Hills charter students could face two-hour-long commutes on public transit, including along busy roads. But the proposal has reignited long-standing arguments over the cost charters impose on public school districts.
“Students and their families who avail themselves to charter schools should not be punished for deciding on a different path toward academic success,” Mihalek said in a statement to WESA. “If a district is making this decision based purely on financial savings, I’ll remind any public education official that safety and security are not the categories to go cheap.”
The state's Commonwealth Court ruled this year that districts can offer public transit passes to students, after a challenge to a policy in Wilkinsburg School District.
Officials took notice of the ruling in the Penn Hills, whose school system recently exited financially distressed status. Over the summer, the district decided to replace yellow-bus service with Pittsburgh Regional Transit bus passes for about 80 students – roughly 2% of the 4,000 it transports daily. The students affected are in 6th to 12th grade and attend Westinghouse Arts Academy and Environmental Charter Middle School and High School.
The district initially included students who attend Propel Charter Schools — whose commutes were among the longest — but after Propel changed its start times, existing bus routes were later re-routed to include those students.
Penn Hills District Superintendent Dr. John Mozzocio said the move will save $411,000 this year. The district said it’s following financial recovery plans set forth by the state Department of Education after shedding its distressed status in May.
“We want to get money back into our classrooms impacting Penn Hills students,” Mozzocio said, citing needed facility and technology upgrades. Penn Hills also budgeted for an attendance officer for the new school year.
Public school districts are required to provide yellow buses or transit passes to students who attend charters within a 10-mile radius. And that’s just one of the costs that districts must shoulder for district students who attend charters: Districts must pay tuition expenses for each student a charter takes on. Those payments, which work out to more than $11,000 per student in Penn Hills, amount to more than one-fifth of the district’s budget.
Mihalek’s bill has angered the Democrat who actually represents Penn Hills, Joe McAndrew.
“She's utilizing my school district's leverage [to help] systems that are funneling money away from our public schools to charter schools,” McAndrew said. He accused her of “clearly catering” to a pro-charter movement supported by Philadelphia-area hedge-fund manager Jeffrey Yass.
Pennsylvania’s richest man and a prominent supporter of Donald Trump, Yass has donated to campaigns that support school vouchers, angering some public school advocates who have sought reform to charter and cyber charter funding. Some of those proposals saw bipartisan support ahead of this year’s state budget.
In 2021, 8% of Pennsylvania students attended charter schools, mostly located in urban or suburban areas, according to the Pew Research Center. And McAndrew said that in many of those areas, “There’s a history of needing to take alternative routes to get to school.”
Mihalek’s campaign website says she supports more funding for public schools, but that “students and parents need access to greater options and opportunities.”
Charter advocates say they welcome the support.
“Ultimately, we as a charter school don't have an avenue to transport our students to and from school,” said Sonya Meadows, senior communications and government relations director at Propel Charter Schools.
Meadows noted that the state doesn’t reimburse charters for their transportation costs and called Mihalek’s proposed legislation “vital.”
“The state does not provide districts with enough money,” Meadows said. “But our kids can’t suffer as a result of that.”
