July 25, 2026
Rebecca Redelmeier/Chalkbeat
Commonwealth Charter Academy has acquired a 32,000 square-foot building in Philadelphia's Navy Yard.
Pennsylvania’s largest cyber charter school, Commonwealth Charter Academy, is expanding its real estate footprint into Philadelphia with a 32,000-square-foot site at the city’s Navy Yard.
Cyber charter students log onto class from home and complete assignments online, without ever having to attend class in-person. But officials with Commonwealth Charter Academy say the site will have offices for staff, as well as a service center for the school’s growing number of Philadelphia students.
The school’s enrollment has nearly doubled over the past five years, to 35,000 students. Last year, around 5,000 lived in Philadelphia, according to state data.
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Philadelphia families have increasingly chosen to enroll kids in cyber schools, often as a way to keep kids safe from gun violence and bullying. But as cyber charter enrollment has grown, some officials and advocates have raised concerns about their academic outcomes and spending.
"With the number of families and students we have down there, we are eager to get back into Philadelphia so those students and families have a connection to their school," said Timothy Eller, Commonwealth Charter Academy’s chief branding and government relations officer. Though the school previously leased office space in Philadelphia, it closed it a few years ago and had been looking for space to buy ever since, Eller said.
The Navy Yard building cost $6 million, according to documents from the school’s May board meeting obtained by the advocacy group Education Voters of Pennsylvania and shared with Chalkbeat.
Since 2022, the school has spent nearly $50 million purchasing real estate statewide that is currently under development, the documents show.
The Navy Yard building will enable students and parents to connect with teachers, complete state testing, attend tutoring, meet with counselors, and participate in field trips, Eller said. It's part of the school's goal to expand from 21 to 27 "family service centers" statewide in the next few years.
But to Susan Spicka, executive director of Education Voters of Pennsylvania, the real estate holdings "symbolize the excess funding that exists in the cyber charter sector that is not being used to actually educate kids."
Students at cyber charter schools, including Commonwealth Charter Academy, graduate at a lower rate than the state average. Last year, around 16% of the school's elementary and middle school students scored proficient on the state math test, lower than the averages for both the state and Philadelphia.
"How do these buildings and the investment in them really further the mission of the cyber charters to provide an online education?" Spicka said.
An audit from the Pennsylvania Auditor General released last year found that Commonwealth Charter Academy's rapid real estate expansion "is unusual and outside the normal operating model of a cyber charter school."
"Those dollars could be allocated to improving online educational opportunities and technological advancements rather than increased overhead and costs associated with physical facilities," the audit stated.
In last year's state budget, which followed that audit, state lawmakers lowered the amount each district pays cyber charters per student, saving Philadelphia nearly $50 million. This year's state budget, which Gov. Josh Shapiro signed earlier this month, holds cyber charter funding steady.
Commonwealth Charter Academy's real estate expansion comes as Philadelphia's school district plans to close 17 schools beginning next year and works to eliminate a $300 million budget deficit.
Eller said the school does not aim to attract more families through expanding its family service centers, but rather to serve the students already enrolled.
Rebecca Redelmeier is a reporter at Chalkbeat Philadelphia. She writes about public schools, early childhood education, and issues that affect students, families, and educators across Philadelphia. Contact Rebecca at rredelmeier@chalkbeat.org. Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools.
