Setting the record straight about Commonwealth Charter Academy

November 4, 2025

The following opinion editorial, authored by CCA Board Chairman Jeffrey E. Piccola and CCA President and CEO Thomas D. Longenecker, was published by PennLive/Patriot-News on November 4, 2025.

Setting the record straight about Commonwealth Charter Academy

Over the past several months, PennLive has published a series of articles about Commonwealth Charter Academy (CCA) that attempt to cast doubt on the school’s service to Pennsylvania families.

But CCA has been recognized for two decades as one of the most innovative public schools in the Commonwealth.

Let us be clear: CCA’s success is not an accident; it is the result of strong leadership, experienced educators, high standards, and an unwavering commitment to students. It is not because the board or the administration focuses on enrollment or sets enrollment goals.

Families choose CCA because they trust us to provide a safe, flexible, and high-quality public education that meets their children’s individual needs.

As education leaders with decades of experience in Pennsylvania public schools, we understand what it takes to balance innovation, accountability, and student success. One of us, a former member of the state Senate, helped craft Pennsylvania’s original Charter School Law – a law designed to give families meaningful choices and to inspire new models of public education.

The other has spent more than 30 years managing school district operations and budgets, experience that ensures CCA operates as a well-run, fiscally responsible organization that directs resources where they matter most: to students and families.

That blend of policy vision and operational experience is what drives CCA today. Our growth and innovation are not departures from the law’s intent – they are the fulfillment of it.

CCA’s model reflects exactly what the framers of Pennsylvania’s Charter School Law envisioned: a family-centered, student-driven, fiscally responsible, and forward-looking approach to public education.

CCA’s leadership team reflects the same depth of experience and commitment to excellence.

Our chief learning officer previously served as a public school superintendent and has nearly 35 years of experience in Pennsylvania education. Supporting that leadership are four provosts – each overseeing one of the school’s core divisions: elementary school, middle school, high school, and special education – ensuring expert oversight and consistent quality across every grade level.

Our chief educational content officer, a veteran educator with deep curriculum expertise, leads our instructional development to ensure it aligns with Pennsylvania’s academic standards.

CCA also employs more than 2,200 credentialed educators – over 78% of our total workforce – who engage daily with students and families, teaching, mentoring, and providing individualized support to meet each student’s needs.

Every one of them is a certified professional dedicated to helping children learn, grow, and succeed.

This is not a structure built for “growth at any cost,” as alluded to by the reporter. It is a structure built for excellence at every level.

The PennLive series portrays CCA’s size as a liability. In truth, our scale is what allows us to provide individualized support, comprehensive student services, and certified teachers in every subject area.

Our investment in technology, curriculum development, and family service centers, often mischaracterized as a “business strategy,” is a long-term commitment to quality, flexibility, and equity for families who deserve real public education options.

More than 36,000 Pennsylvania students now choose CCA because their local schools were not meeting their needs – students with special needs, students facing bullying or instability, gifted learners, and families seeking flexibility to balance work, travel, or health challenges. To dismiss those choices as a “trend” or “perk” is offensive to the very families our public education system exists to serve.

CCA is independently accredited, audited annually, and held to accountability requirements under Pennsylvania law.

Our teachers are certified, our operations transparent, and our focus clear: helping every student reach their full potential.

We do not shy away from scrutiny. We invite anyone curious about how public cyber charter education truly works to visit our Family Service Centers, meet our teachers, and see what a high-quality public cyber school looks like in action.

For our students, families, and educators, CCA’s story is one of commitment, innovation, and results.

Jeffrey E. Piccola, chairman of the CCA Board of Trustees, served in the Pennsylvania Senate and House of Representatives from 1977 to 2012. Thomas D. Longenecker is CCA president and CEO.