One of the lobbyists for the Pennsylvania School Boards Association recently wrote an opinion piece for the Post-Gazette ("Cyber Schools Need To Face Reality," May 30) suggesting that the 17,000 Pennsylvania students and their families enrolled in cyber charter schools have nothing to fear from the association's legislative activities. 

Pardon us if we're skeptical. It's hard to accept an olive branch from an organization that has spent the last seven years engaged in a relentless, well-funded, taxpayer-financed campaign of misinformation and distortions about cyber charter schools -- a campaign that has included filing multiple lawsuits and pushing legislation that would slash funding for cyber schools and force them to close.

Every year, the school boards association recycles the same old myths, claiming that cyber charter schools are "unaccountable" and too "costly."

Cyber charter schools are public schools designated with the same Local Education Agency status as bricks-and-mortar public schools. They are held to the same accountability standards, audits and state reporting requirements. The school boards association falsely claims that districts get "zero information" about cyber charter schools when Act 88 specifically grants districts the ability to gather annual reports and student enrollment information from cyber charter schools.

The state of Pennsylvania provides full oversight and implements accountability measures for all cyber charter schools. The Pennsylvania Department of Education has the authority to conduct reviews and audits at any time. If a cyber charter school is not succeeding, its charter and ability to remain in operation can be revoked -- a level of accountability that public school districts never face.

The school boards association is lobbying for a bill (HB 446) that would arbitrarily cut funding for cyber charter schools by as much as 50 percent, claiming that they shouldn't need as much money to operate since they don't maintain school buildings and other facilities. This would force our schools to shut down. You will see pigs fly before you see the association advocate for more burdensome regulations and massive funding cuts for public schools. Except, or course, if the public schools are charters.

The school boards association intentionally understates the significant costs associated with operating full-time, full-service public cyber charter schools and ignores studies that refute its position.

For example, a 2006 independent report prepared by Augenblick, Palaich & Associates on behalf of the Bell South Foundation determined that "the operating costs of online programs are about the same as the operating costs of a regular bricks-and-mortar school," and concluded that costs for full-time cyber schools range from about $7,200 to $8,300 per student.

As much as public school districts like to say that it is "their money" being diverted to cyber charter schools, the parents of kids enrolled in cyber schools, all hard-working taxpayers themselves, are quick to remind them that the funding is designated for their children's education and not for specific schools.

While the school boards association is opposed to cyber charter schools because they want the money, power and control over public education, it also opposes something more fundamental: school choice for parents.

Cyber charter schools continue to grow for one reason alone: Parents and kids are choosing to enroll. Thousands of Pennsylvania families continue to want cyber charter schools available as a public school option. And that is the real rub for the school boards association.

Unlike traditional public schools, not a single child enrolled in cyber charter schools is assigned to a school based on where they live. All the families in our cyber charter schools are with us because they exercised their right to choose our schools. When a student enrolls, the school district no longer has any responsibility for the education or oversight of that student. The district can concentrate on the kids in its schools and need not spend time or energy worrying about ours. We'll take good care of them. If we don't, they are free to leave and go back to their locally assigned schools, taking all of their funding with them. That is ultimate accountability.

If the members of the school boards association truly want to put the interests of Pennsylvania children first, they should cease the relentless and misleading attacks on cyber charter schools, respect the education choices of our families and end their campaign to strangle our schools out of existence.