Pa. Seeks to Revise 'Cyberschool' Law
By MARTHA RAFFAELE, Associated Press Writer, December 31, 2004

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HARRISBURG, Pa. - State lawmakers want to revise Pennsylvania's "cyberschool" law following a dispute over taxpayer money spent on the children of U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum.

Legislators need to clarify which students may enroll in Internet-based schools at taxpayer expense, said Rep. James Roebuck, the ranking Democrat on the House Education Committee.

"Taxpayers have enough of a responsibility for trying to educate kids who are bona fide, legitimate residents," he said. "They shouldn't have to be paying for kids who aren't residents of that district."

The state's 2002 cyberschool law requires school districts to pay for any resident students enrolled in an Internet-based school. But it does not explicitly say that applies to children from families who maintain a Pennsylvania residence while living outside the state.

Last month, some Penn Hills School District board members objected that Santorum's children attended the Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School at district expense because Santorum's family mostly lives at a $757,000 home in Virginia.

The Republican senator also maintains a Penn Hills home worth about $106,000 near his in-laws, pays taxes and is considered a legal resident of Penn Hills by the state Attorney General's Office.

Amid criticism of the arrangement, Santorum agreed to withdraw his children from the cyberschool and resume homeschooling them. Neither the cyberschool nor the senator has offered to reimburse the school district, and Santorum has said he did nothing wrong.

The Penn Hills district has asked the state Education Department to review Santorum's case, although the department itself has not adopted any guidelines.

Penn Hills school board member Erin Vecchio said she believes a 2000 state Supreme Court decision made clear what constitutes residency.

The court ordered the Cumberland Valley School District to cover the tuition of a boy who attended a private school for disabled children in Montgomery County, even though his mother maintained a second home in another school district. The justices concluded the family were Cumberland Valley residents because they "stay there during the days and sleep there at night."

In the case of the Achievement House Charter School - a cyberschool based in suburban Philadelphia - the education department advised school officials in the fall not to enroll a girl whose parents owned a Pennsylvania home, but spent most of their time doing missionary work in Kenya, according to school administrator Wallace H. Wallace.

Although there is no case law specifically involving residency standards for cyberschool students, an attorney for the Pennsylvania School Boards Association said they would likely be similar to those that apply to other public school situations.

"It would be a difficult read to try to say that residency is different for cyberstudents than for other people," said the lawyer, Emily Leader.

Rep. Jess Stairs, the Republican chairman of the House Education Committee, said the residency question should be resolved.

"I would hope we can look at it again," he said.

But Erik Arneson, an aide to Republican Senate Majority Leader David Brightbill, said he sees no urgency to revisit the law because it lays out a process for determining residency.

"Given the fact that this is an isolated case ... we think the law is working as intended," Arneson said.

Related Article:

The Education of Senator Rick Santorum's (R-PA) Children Has Cost The Penn Hills SD $100,000 Since 2001-02