PA Steam Academy
A Midtown-based charter school’s contract has been renewed for five more years.
The Harrisburg School Board voted 7-1 Tuesday to reenter a charter agreement with the PA Steam Academy, a K-6 charter school, located at N. 3rd and Reily streets.
Five years into operation, the charter school was in the last year of its current charter term.
PA Steam opened in 2021, offering K-2 classes, and has added subsequent grades each year. It now serves grades K-6 and boasts 440 students—about 70% of whom are Harrisburg residents.
PA Steam is approved to add 7th and 8th grades over the next two years and gradually increase its student capacity over the next five. It will work toward teaching 720 kids by the 2030-2031 school year.
Following a thorough review, Allison Petersen, a contracted education law attorney from Wisler Pearlstine, recommended the charter’s extension and continued expansion Tuesday night to the board ahead of the vote.
In a presentation, she said that PA Steam’s overall math and English language arts test scores exceeded the performance scores of Harrisburg School District students in the same grades over all its years of operation so far.
PA Steam is in compliance with lottery and attendance policies, Petersen added, but struggles, like many schools, with attendance and truancy.
The school also has room for improvement on publishing its board meeting information publicly in compliance with the Sunshine Act, the attorney added.
Per the terms of the charter renewal, PA Steam will only expand to be a K-8 school.
“They’ve indicated they are not interested in having a high school, and the charter that was negotiated specifically says ‘no high school grades,’” Petersen said.
The new charter runs from July 2026 through June 2031.
Board member Brian Carter voted ‘no’ to the charter renewal. He did not note a reason.
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