Students Flocked to Cyber-Charter Schools This Year. So Did District Revenue and Federal Relief Funds Like brick and mortar charter schools, cyber-charters are funded by contributions from public school districts. Districts pay the online schools an annual rate for each of their students who opt to enroll in one. Elizabeth Hardison, Pennsylvania Capital-Star | April 18, 2021 | Analysis Brian Hayden thinks he can pinpoint the day that Pennsylvania students started flocking to his school. It was early July 2020, and Hayden and the rest of the staff at the Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School were on their annual summer break. Betsy DeVos, at the time the U.S. Secretary of Education, told the press that the federal government would require schools to open for instruction in the fall.