Do some cyber charter schools misrepresent attendance rates?
Online charter schools, sometimes called "cyber" charters, receive funding in the same way as brick-and-mortar schools, through a per-pupil allocation. Few states require online charter schools to provide detailed data on attendance and enrollment. There have been multiple instances of these schools inflating attendance numbers.
In 2016, K12 Inc., a for-profit online charter school operator, agreed to an $8.5 million settlement with the state of California over various claims, including inflating attendance records to collect more state funding than it was entitled to. In 2019, the company reported just over $1 billion in revenue from as enrollments grew 6.9% to 118,800.
Another operator, Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow, faced similar charges from the state of Ohio in 2017. It closed in 2018.
