The Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School is the largest in the state.
More than 11,000 students bringing in more than $10,000 each. Do the math. More than $110 million rolling in annually for a corporation that provides a computer and materials but no custodians or crossing guards or librarians or social workers or…you get the picture. What a business, and all those millions subtracted from public school budgets across the state.
A few months ago, the FBI launched an investigation of its operations.
The board of the school just fired most of its top managers.
But the story gets really tangled when you learn about how this corporation was taking in so much money, making so many business deals, spreading the wealth to old friends, and–wow–no public school would have escaped scrutiny for so long with the financial arrangements described in this article.
Follow the money.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I don’t think the public realizes how the legislation establishing public charters is almost a blueprint for this kind of behavior. Here in Maine, our ALEC-drafted charter “enabling” legislation guts any public oversight of charter operations–The school districts literally must cut checks to the charters, no questions asked. And again we reap the whirlwind.
I’m pushing on my legislators to enact new laws providing for public accountability, better equity of assessment, and fair apportionment of funding for charters. While I’m very chary of the charter idea generally, I think that at the least such legislation will reduce the incentives for sham charter schools.
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Michael Conti, the CEO of Pennsylvania Cyber School received a MA from Mountain State University in 2008, which provides many cyber education course services and created controversy when it paid college President Charles Polk $1.8 million in compensation in 2009, making him the sixth-highest-paid private-college president in the country that year. The university lost accreditation in 2012. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountain_State_University.
Despite these evolving problems, In 2009 the Princeton Review named Mountain State College as “one of the best colleges and universities in the Southeast.” http://www.register-herald.com/local/x519101544/MSU-makes-The-Princeton-Review
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In an article in the Baton Rouge Advocate http://theadvocate.com/news/3895525-123/online-classes-touted-for-special it mentioned that the Princeton Review was an applicant to offer online services. I thought the Princeton Review was a publication. Can you clarify this for me. What do you suppose they would offer?
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The Princeton Review does a lot of test prep, much of it computerized. I’d guess they’d offer more of the same.
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Princeton Review is the original test prep service that taught kids how to get higher scores on the SAT.
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They are a private corporation that does testing and test prep. Not clear what they are offering Louisiana. We won’t know until the course voucher program is implemented. State officials tout online education as superior to “archaic seat time” education. Another example of the contradictions that bedevil an ideologically-driven reform movement: on the one hand it wants to lengthen the school day (seat time) on the other hand it wants to abolish the classroom (seat time). In the end it, it is all about control and profits, not better education.
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Are you ready for a shocking comment? I went to this school!!!
In Between 8th and 12th grade we had a new public school open in our city and we were using PA cyber as our back bone so to speak, we had them for two years until the school nixed the contract with them and migrated to a different solution, they are still operating today, which actually is a decent school, (it is a public school because it runs under the public school system) anyway I am getting off track. Our school was under PA cyber for two years and I actually met Dr. Trombetta and Brett Geibel on several occasions. I was SHOCKED to hear what happened. I honestly hope Dr. Trombetta goes to jail, that is misuse of public funds!! Terrible…
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