SMETHPORT — In his report to the Smethport Area School Board Thursday, Superintendent David London cited the costs to the district because of cyber charter schools and encouraged support for two bills currently in the Legislature that will reform the funding of these schools.

Charter schools are public and tuition-free schools that operate independently of tradition school districts.  

In a case of “funding following the student,” the student’s home district is required to pay the charter school’s cost of tuition, which requires districts to adjust their budgets.

London reported that it costs the district $4,500 for one student to attend the VLN Partners as a cyber school resource for this school year. However, that cost goes up to $12,657 if the student attends a cyber charter school, and for a special needs student, that expense can be $25,000.

Saying that “cyber school funding reform is now getting the attention of legislators,” London called for support of House Bill 526 and Senate Bill 34, which would require the parents or guardians to pay for the student’s education in a cyber school if the student’s home district of residence offers a full-time cyber education program.

Later in the meeting, the school directors renewed the contract with VLN partners as a cyber school resource for the 2019-20 academic year.

Directors also approved several other financial items. One of them is a 12 percent increase in the healthcare insurance premium for the 2019-220 fiscal year. Director Dan Wertz remarked, “This is $186,000 that will be added to our budget.”

Also gaining the nod was the Seneca Highlands Intermediate Unit 9 co-op bids for general and janitorial supplies for next year.

In personnel matters, Andrea Saquin was hired as a temporary, part-time school counselor.

The board also approved agreements with Mount Jewett and Norwich Township for the use of their baseball fields this spring for the Hubbers’ season.

Another unanimous vote saw the directors approving an agreement for an after-school program with the Bradford/Olean YMCA for the next school year.