CROSS PLAINS, Wis., Jan. 16, 2008
Virtual Schools Could Get Logged Off
Online Education Has Sparked Debate On The Dollars And Sense Of Alternative Learning
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Photo
Marcy Thompson, 12, works on a math lesson in her bedroom at her home in Cross Plains, Wis., Monday, Jan. 14, 2008. Thompson is one of 800 students in the Wisconsin Virtual Academy, a charter school based in Milwaukee. Virtual schools are at the center of a debate over public funding of such schools. (AP Photo/Andy Manis)
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Thompson is one of a growing number of students nationwide trading home schooling and public schools for virtual ones where licensed teachers oversee her progress from afar.
She is enrolled in the Wisconsin Virtual Academy, a charter school based north of Milwaukee, but spends her days 130 miles away at home studying everything from literature to algebra under her mother's guidance and a curriculum provided by the school district.
Supporters say virtual schools are an innovative educational option that works better for some students and is a godsend for parents who prefer their children learn from home.
But critics, including the nation's largest teacher's union, say the so-called cyber charter schools amount to little more than home schooling at taxpayers' expense. They complain they take away money from traditional public schools and profit companies who sell curricula to districts.
Wisconsin is at the center of the debate after an appeals court in December ordered the state to stop funding the Wisconsin Virtual Academy, the state's largest virtual school with 800 students.
The ruling was the first of its kind in the nation and has triggered a debate among lawmakers over how the schools should be funded and regulated. The schools' supporters are preparing to fight one plan they say would cripple them in Wisconsin.
Observers say the outcome could help shape other states' laws, either restricting or encouraging the schools' growth.
"People are paying attention because online learning is really a growing phenomenon," said Susan Patrick, president of the North American Council for Online Learning, a trade association for online learning. "And for us to arbitrarily shut down online learning for students is a really dangerous precedent to set."
Virtual schools operate in 18 states from Colorado to Pennsylvania and enroll more than 90,000 students, according to the Virginia-based council.
They generally require parents to lead daily lessons provided by the school districts that run them. Licensed teachers monitor students' progress through e-mails, online classes and tutoring.
But students have textbooks and do not spend their whole day in front of a computer. Thompson does homework, logs online for interactive classes about once a week and is a member of a math club that meets in person.
Still, Barbara Stein of the National Education Association, the teacher's union, objected to the use of tax dollars to support what she called a new form of home schooling.
"The issue is whether a program where you don't have licensed educators and where you don't have students working directly with other students should be getting fully funded as though it were a quality educational experience," she said.
Siding with a Wisconsin teacher's union, the appeals court ruled the school was violating Wisconsin's open enrollment, charter school and teacher licensing laws.
The court found parents were the primary educators - a violation of a state law requiring public school teachers to be licensed. And districts who operate schools cannot receive taxpayer money for students who do not attend school within their boundaries under current law, the court said.
Its logic could be applied to schools that enroll 3,000 students statewide, potentially shutting them down. Thompson's school, which would be the first to close, will at least finish this school year while the ruling is appealed.
Thompson, 12, cried when she heard about the ruling. Now she is writing lawmakers to urge them to keep her school open in an essay called: "Why I Love My School." She was home schooled through second grade but has attended the Wisconsin Virtual Academy since it opened five years ago.
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Amazing.
The problem is that the children that will lose are those who do not have parents capable of educating their own children. My thoughts are that if the parents so concerned for their children''s best education were to keep their children in public schools and become more involved - the public school systems would have a better chance of working.
I really resent when funds are taken from the public schools as there clearly needs to be better answers for the children who need it the most. Think about it - the better education the inner city children and kids from uneducated parents can get - the less likely they are to feel not worthy of good jobs and the less likely they are to turn to drug dealing and other criminal careers.
GREED, PLAIN GREED!!!!
To these people it''s much more important than a parents choice in how their children get educated. To these people it has nothing to do with the families and their ability to raise their children the best they can. To them it''s all about MONEY, at the expense of other people''s children.
Yo Unions, have you not, as is your stated purpose, seen to it that teachers get reasonable recompense for their work, regardless of the number of students physically present?
Yo school boards, if your budget depends on the number of students present at the "fourth Friday count", does your position not make you look as if you are simply trying to pad the numbers, thereby getting more funding that you can corrupt?
Yo feds, since all the evidence shows Bush''s NCLB to be an utter failure, and just more "trickle down" BS, don''t you think that the concept of education should be modernized to include the modern forms of information acquisition?
The public schools are too large, and as clearly stated by a principle at the Oconomowoc school district, they cannot keep children like my child safe. Some children need things like this in order to life a fear free life/childhood that all Americans should have the right to!
A product of American public schools?
n.
1. Any of several shrubs of the genus Ligustrum, especially L. vulgare or L. ovalifolium, having opposite leaves and clusters of white flowers and widely used for hedges.
2. Any of several similar or related plants.
The definition failed to mention L. ovalofficium.
Sorry, I didn''t mean to offend...I was using the opportunity to poke a little fun at the article. I too am a product of our public school system and have my share of errors. I should have added a :) to my posting.
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by jesusloveswe3
April 15, 2009 4:40 PM PDT
- If these people have such a problem with our children being cyber schooled then fix the small country schools that feel they don't have to follow the laws. Our school district took it upon there self to decide what my son medical needed, I was harassed by the LEA,superindent,and neighbors (that where encouraged by the school district to take photos and videos of my son at his home). I was told that he didn't need his medical needed wheelchair and that he had no medical problems and was told by the LEA that i was the cause of my sons disabilities. They also refused to attempt to agree to the medical findings from his own team of doctors they kept saying i was doctor shopping, his doctors agreed to meet with them via phone but they would not even do that. Also my daughter while at that school was so far below her grade level that it was sad that i was wasting her time sending her to a school that wasn't even educating her she is a fifth grader that reads on a 1st grade level and does math on a kindergarten level so who is wasting tax payers money. So until the law makers make the small country schools follow the laws and stop bulling parents and innocent children i can do a better job at schooling them at home with the help of our cyber school they will do allot better where there are at. So before you start attacking our school talk to the parents who have there children in cyber schools and ask them why they chose to cyber school instead of the brick and mortar school offered to them. I just bet if you law makers would turn your attack toward all of the schools our children would of been in you will find allot reason why we are right in our choices. thank you for your time god bless.
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