As the school year approached during the coronavirus pandemic last year, many parents opted to enroll their children in cyber charter schools rather than adapt to the constantly changing plans for in-person education.

According to data from the beginning of the 2020-21 school year, Butler Area School District had 319 students enrolled in cyber charter schools, compared to 260 last school year. Slippery Rock Area School District had 139 students enrolled, compared to 80 last year, and Mars Area School District had 167 students enrolled, compared to 79 the previous year.

While enrollment in charter schools skyrocketed at the start of the school year, districts have seen many students return to their home school throughout the year because of the open-ended enrollment in both charter schools and public schools.

Susan Miller, assistant superintendent of Slippery Rock, said cyber charter schools offered educational consistency at the beginning of the school year to parents who were worried about how school would function in a pandemic. As pandemic trends became more predictable, parents began to send their children back in-person.

“There were a lot of fears of not knowing what school would look like,” Miller said. “We saw a lot of kids return from online this spring, and we expect that trend will continue.”

Along with having to pay for every child who attends a cyber charter school in a district, having fewer students per classroom doesn't save the district money.The amount of funding dedicated to charter school in each school district's budget increases as more students attend, which can put a financial strain on a school district. The cost can range from $10,000 to more than $30,000 per student, Miller said.“We have had numbers come back, but we already had a sizeable number at cyber charter schools,” said Brian White, Butler school superintendent. “That's one of the challenges — we don't have the ability to reduce costs.”Several school districts in Butler County offer their own virtual education options, which keeps students officially enrolled in-district, but allows them an alternative education method. Each school district saw an influx of students choose this option as well.“At our peak during this year, we had 35% of students enrolled online,” White said.

Cyber charter enrollment actually dropped in the Moniteau School District this year, with 58 students enrolled at the beginning of the year, compared to 63 last school year. The district started its own virtual option this year, of which some students took advantage.“We want to have our kids go to school at Moniteau School District,” said Tom Samosky, superintendent. “We think we can meet the needs of our kids as well as any cyber school here at Moniteau.”While students have been returning to their home schools throughout the year, Jill Swaney, business manager for Mars Area School District, said it will be difficult for districts to balance their budgets for next school year.Swaney said Mars was able to save money in some ways by not filling some empty staff positions, but the full impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on school district budgets will rely on how many students continue in cyber charter schools.“It's a little hard for planning purposes,” she said. “Any time that funds are diverted from the education we provide, it's an issue.”