Starting today, playing hooky in Philadelphia is about to get more expensive.

City Council yesterday unanimously passed an ordinance that would slap a $25 fine on the parents of school-age children found wandering the city between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. on school days.

The measure - endorsed by the school district and the Police Department - gives any city law-enforcement officer the authority to obtain the name, age, and address of the youth caught skipping school and of his or her parent or legal guardian. The officer will then issue a violation to the truant child, and a notice will be mailed to the household.

"The idea of this is not to be punitive, but to get the parents' attention that their kids are sometimes not going to school," said Councilman William Greenlee, sponsor of the bill with Curtis Jones Jr.

Violation of the daytime curfew would be a summary offense. Parents of repeat violators would face $300 fines.

The daytime curfew will supplement state law and a longstanding city anti-truancy program.

Pennsylvania charter school officials on Thursday released a Code of Accountability that promises transparency as they fight for equal-funding rights.

The code, which focuses on academic, ethical and financial accountability, was developed by the Pennsylvania Coalition of Charter Schools in West Chester, which represents 120 of the state's 127 charter schools.

"Truth and accountability goes both ways," said Larry Jones, CEO of Richard Allen Preparatory Charter School in Philadelphia. "And we have the right to ask one simple question: Who decided that our students were worth only 70 percent of what other schools receive?"

Charter schools are public schools managed by parent, community or educational groups and given a charter to operate by school districts. They are not bound by many traditional mandates, which gives them more freedom in how they teach students. But that freedom comes at a price, as schools are not eligible to apply for any public grants.

A growing number of Pennsylvania school districts are saving taxpayers thousands of dollars a year -- not by cutting taxes, but by paying less to collect the tax, in some cases hiring a bank to do the work.

The goal sounds simple enough. But in a state where tax collectors are generally elected, it isn't.

School districts can't unilaterally eliminate tax collectors, so they must provide an incentive -- or disincentive, depending on your perspective -- through an ultimatum: Work at the lower rate or let us decide how to collect the tax.

''They're asking us to vacate the position,'' said Diane Telly, Hilltown Township tax collector, who acts as spokeswoman for the eight Pennridge collectors. ''You're elected by the public to do the job. That's why we do have to take it to court.''

When thousands of students ditch home computers and gather in makeshift classrooms across the state today, the future of their cyber charter schools is uncertain.

Testing begins on reading and math portions of the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment, the measure by which the state determines whether public schools are making "adequate yearly progress" under the federal No Child Left Behind Act. Last year, only three of the state's 11 cyber schools -- which educate more than 19,000 students -- achieved AYP.

Traditional schools that fail to do so face corrective action from the state that increases in severity each succeeding year, up to a state takeover. Cyber schools face the threat of the state not renewing their five-year charters, effectively shutting them. Six charters are up in the next two years, and test scores will be a big factor in renewals, said Leah Harris, spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Department of Education.

Sarah McCluan, spokeswoman for the Allegheny Intermediate Unit, which oversees Pennsylvania Learners Online in Homestead, said cyber schools are raging against the importance placed on the PSSA, a standardized test that determines students' proficiency in math, reading, science and writing.

"You can't compare traditional students' test scores to a cyber school's test scores," McCluan said. "In many ways, using these tests to measure our students' achievement against other schools is almost like using a ruler to measure somebody's weight."