In Pennsylvania, our state law is supposed to protect children. But a loophole in Pennsylvania’s charter school law leaves vulnerable children enrolled in these schools at grave risk.

A recent NBC investigation reports a case of heinous abuse inflicted on children while they were enrolled in Pennsylvania’s largest cyber charter school, Commonwealth Charter Academy.

After a fifteen-year-old boy escaped from his home, authorities in the Lehigh Valley found that he and his twin brother weighed just 50-some pounds. Their parents are accused of starving and abusing their children and face conspiracy to commit murder, child endangerment, aggravated assault, and other charges.

This issue of cyber charter caregivers abusing their children is not new. In 2019, nearly 20 school superintendents spoke out about their fears that caregivers who withdrew their children from school districts and enrolled them in cyber charters would be able to abuse them without detection. In May of 2024 a child enrolled in CCA died after being starved and abused by her caregivers.