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Read. Follow. Verify.Pennsylvania Bill Requires Tuition-Free District Cyber Schools and Shifts Cyber Charter Costs to Families
Last action · February 4, 2025: Referred to EDUCATION, Feb. 4, 2025Sponsors: Ryan Bizzarro and 12 others
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What This Bill Would Do
House Bill 480 allows students in school districts offering a to enroll tuition-free, while requiring students who instead choose a to pay tuition directly through twelve monthly installments. Enrolled cyber charter students would also be excluded from their local district's counts for state funding purposes. The act takes effect in 60 days.
Local families choosing a face direct out-of-pocket tuition payments instead of the state's current district-funded model, while districts offering their own online programs gain tuition-free alternatives.
- Pennsylvania's public education funding system historically relies on average daily membership calculations to distribute basic and special education subsidies to local school districts. context
Who It Would Affect
Groups the bill's text would affect if enacted, as described in the record. Being affected is not a position for or against it.
Students and Parents
They face direct tuition responsibilities if choosing a cyber charter school or gain access to tuition-free district cyber education programs.
School Districts
They can offer tuition-free full-time cyber education programs and are exempt from including cyber charter students in their average daily membership for basic education funding.
Cyber Charter Schools
They receive tuition payments directly from students, parents, or guardians rather than through school district funding flows.
Key Facts
You don't have to trust us. Each fact below is taken straight from the official document - click any one to see the exact passage, highlighted in the original.
Frequently Asked Questions
What happens if I enroll my child in a district-run full-time cyber education program?
Who is responsible for paying tuition if a student chooses a cyber charter school?
How must payments to a cyber charter school be made under this bill?
What else do you want to know?
News Coverage
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Votes, people, money & the original sourceWhere This Stands
Currently in committee. The next step in the legislative lifecycle is Floor Vote.
Procedural history
1 action- Feb 4, 2025HouseCommitteeReferred to EDUCATION, Feb. 4, 2025
Version history
Only one version on file - nothing to compare yet. As later stages (committee substitute, engrossed, enrolled) are captured, the redline appears here.
View official text →Lobbying Activity
No state lobbying filings in our records match this bill. Federal lobbying reports (LDA) cover Congress, so they are not listed on state bills.
Full breakdown
Who this bill affects and the strongest case for and against it, written only from the bill’s own text.
Sponsors
Show 8 more sponsors
Discoveries
Patterns POLISCOPE noticed across the record. These are observations to investigate, not conclusions.
Shift of Cyber Charter School Financial Burden
The bill proposes shifting payment responsibilities for cyber charter school enrollment from local school districts to students and parents, altering long-standing funding flows.
Connected Entities
Sources
www.palegis.us
Analysis Score
0–100- Significance65How much this matters to a regular citizen
- Controversy75Intensity of disagreement among stakeholders
- Entertainment10Compellingness for a non-policy-wonk reader
- Buzz40Current news / social attention level
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