Pennsylvania charter schools (re difficulty with oversight and closing schools)

“Closing a charter school is a long, costly process"; Allentown board expected to start process against Vitalistic this week.” The Morning Call, 4/22/2012   

...Charter school revocation hearings are costly, rare and time-consuming in Pennsylvania, which has 167 charter schools. Only eight charters have been revoked and those decisions were appealed to the state Charter School Appeal Board, state Department of Education records show...

While the law's directions for how a charter can open are precise, its oversight provisions are not. The law states school districts are to oversee a charter's academic and financial performance while the state oversees cyber charter schools.

The law does not explain how school districts or the state are supposed to conduct the oversight since school districts have no authority over charters' day-to-day operations or annual budgets. Nor does the law spell out how districts are supposed to force charters to correct problems they may find...

Even the state Department of Education has had trouble overseeing charters.

For example, the Philadelphia Daily News recently reported that cyber school Frontier Virtual Charter High School has a mountain of unpaid bills and laid off its principal and all its full-time teachers despite receiving $435,000 in tax money this school year. The state Department of Education, however, has had little luck getting Frontier's administrators to turn over records so the state can investigate, according to the newspaper...

The Legislature and state Department of Education have known since 2002 that oversight of charters was lacking. That year, research from Western Michigan University found some Pennsylvania districts make "compliance visits" while others visit for "ceremonial purposes." Researchers found oversight picks up when charters come up for renewal...

Charter oversight is also the responsibility of the state auditor general's office, which is having trouble conducting cyclical audits or special investigations to make sure tax money is spent appropriately in the state's charter schools.

"There's no doubt … it creates challenges for us," Auditor General Jack Wagner said.

That means there are few eyes on the $4 billion taxpayers have spent toward charter schools in the last decade. That total, according to Department of Education data, includes per pupil expenditures, salaries, building and rental costs, and grants...