Charter schools are free for students to attend!
Funding:
Every school district allots a set amount of money per student, depending on their federal, state and local funding. When a student decides to attend a charter school, a portion of the allotted funds follows that child to their public school of choice.
Transportation:
Transportation is also free and provided by the student's home district (where the student resides) as long as the Charter school is within 10 miles of the sending district's boundary line via a main road. SSCHS will work with each family to determine the best source of transportation for any district outside the 10 mile requirement.
Enrollment:
SSCHS is planning to open with both a 9th and 10th grade class, in August of 2028. Each grade will have a maximum enrollment of 100 students. If a grade has more applications than seats, a lottery system will be utilized to determine which students get to attend. Students not chosen can be placed on a waiting list. If a student disenrolls, the first person on the waiting list will be contacted. The waiting list order is also determined via the lottery system.
Preferences: Charter schools can give preference to siblings of currently enrolled students or students of persons who helped develop the Charter school.
Withdrawal: Students absent for 10 consecutive days can be removed from the school's active membership roll.
Planning & Approval:
Charter schools can be started by anyone but require an immense amount of work and expertise, often spanning 2-10 years of planning. The standard Charter school application is 18 pages and can be found on the PA Dept. of Education's website; however, applications often require approximately 1,000 pages of supporting documents before they can be submitted to the district where the Charter school intends to open. Everything from founding members, school governance, entire curriculum plans for 9-12th grades, financial planning, location and development, proposed staff and so much more needs to be included when submitting an application.