A Parenting & kids forum. ParentingBanter.com

If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Go Back   Home » ParentingBanter.com forum » misc.kids » General
Site Map Home Authors List Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read Web Partners

Virtual school seeks Iowa funding



 
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old June 27th 03, 06:57 PM
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Virtual school seeks Iowa funding

http://www.dmregister.com/news/stori.../21612238.html
Virtual school seeks Iowa funding
Critics have questions on adequate human interaction and the use of public
money for a business venture. By KATHY A. BOLTEN
Register Staff Writer
06/27/2003
William Bennett's for-profit company, which offers virtual schooling, plans
to tap Iowa's public education money to provide materials and Internet
access to families teaching their children at home. K12 Inc., led by
Bennett, the former U.S. secretary of education known for preaching
virtues, is partnering with the Pocahontas Area school district to provide
a cyber school this fall to Iowa youngsters entering kindergarten.
Supporters of the Iowa Virtual School Program, who are using the state's
open-enrollment law to attract students, plan to add first through seventh
grades in 2004. The program's tactics have raised concerns on several
fronts, in Iowa and nationally. * State education officials question the
program's financing and whether it is appropriate for young children to be
taught via a computer. * Home-school supporters warn parents that the cyber
program is subject to public school regulations, including annual testing
of students to comply with federal accountability laws. * Public school
backers worry about using public money to support a Virginia-based,
for-profit company. If the program attracts hundreds of Iowa students,
those students' home school districts face losing state financial aid.
"This is a program where you are plugging kids into a computer rather than
having contact with a teacher or other students," said John Hieronymus,
president of the Iowa State Education Association, which represents nearly
33,000 Iowa teachers. "It's a program that is siphoning off public money
that is being sent to a private corporation in Virginia." Supporters have
differing views. "We are giving parents and students in the state of Iowa
another option for education," said Michael Wright, superintendent of the
Laurens-Marathon school district, who also will be Pocahontas Area's
superintendent July 1. "I don't think this replaces public school as we
know it, but it does give parents another option," he said. Wright scoffs
at concerns over public money - up to $4,557 per student - being handed
over to an out-of-state firm. "We purchase textbooks, pencils, computers
and other supplies from out-of-state companies. This is no different than
going through McGraw-Hill or another textbook company to buy books," he
said. Using the state's open-enrollment rules, students enrolled in the
cyber school will be considered Pocahontas Area students. The youngsters,
however, will attend class in their homes. Youngsters entering kindergarten
this fall are eligible to open-enroll to Pocahontas Area for the 2003-04
school year; older students must file an open-enrollment request with their
home district by Jan. 1, 2004, to be eligible to attend the cyber program
in the fall of 2004. K12 officials hope about 100 Iowa kindergartners will
open-enroll to Pocahontas Area this fall. If that happens - and the
district receives full per-student state money - Pocahontas Area will
receive 3 percent of the money, or about $13,670. Next year, the district
would receive 2 percent of the $4,557-per-student state aid to pay for
administrative costs, and 1 percent in the following years. The rest of the
money would be used to pay cyber school staff salaries and to purchase the
program's materials. Cyber schools began as a pilot program through the
U.S. Department of Education in the mid-1990s, said Gene I. Maeroff, author
of "A Classroom of One: How On-line Learning is Changing Our Schools and
Colleges." "What you had was the federal government interested in allowing
kids living in rural areas to take courses not otherwise available in their
school because there wasn't a critical mass of students or there wasn't
anyone to teach it," Maeroff said. The concept has since mushroomed.
"Online learning is the greatest boon ever to home schooling," said
Maeroff, director of the Hechinger Institute on Education and the Media at
New York's Columbia University. "All of a sudden, public funds are
available to support these kids." Iowa Department of Education officials,
who have met with K12 representatives, question whether students enrolled
in the cyber school qualify for full state financial aid. Instead, state
officials believe the virtual school resembles home-school assistance
programs, which receive 60 percent of the state's per-pupil support, or $2,
734. K12 officials, who plan to open an office in Pocahontas, argue that
the program is more substantial than home-school assistance programs. "We
have full-time teachers who are available seven days a week," K12 spokesman
Bryan Flood said. In addition, students are required to meet the state's
mandatory attendance laws and testing requirements. Also, teachers track
students' lessons daily and monitor group outings. "Teachers are partners
with the parent in providing instruction," Flood said. No such partnerships
exist in traditional home-school programs, he said. Iowa officials also
worry that young cyber students will have little interaction with peers.

"There isn't very much that gives us comfort about a young student being
dependent on a computer to learn their lessons," said Ted Stilwill, Iowa's
education department director.

Flood said about 80 percent of kindergartners' time is spent being taught
by parents or doing hands-on activities. About 20 percent of young
students' time is at a computer, he said. In Wisconsin, a teachers' group
has filed a lawsuit against virtual schools, arguing that the programs
violate the state's charter school and open-enrollment laws. The lawsuit
was filed last year after Sylvan Ventures formed a partnership with a local
district. This year, K12 joined with Northern Ozaukee School District to
begin Wisconsin Virtual Academy. The Wisconsin Education Association
Council lost in the state's circuit court but is appealing the decision.
Wisconsin education department officials also are wary of the cyber
schools, which this fall are estimated to attract about 900 students in
that state. Questions are being raised about whether students enrolled in
the programs will meet the state's accountability laws, said John Kraus,
spokesman for the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. State
officials are encouraging public school districts to research the virtual
programs carefully before entering into agreements with the private
companies, Kraus said. "We feel pretty confident that quality teachers and
quality programs cannot be replaced by a computer or a private program out
of Virginia." Home-school supporters also have concerns about the virtual
programs. A posting on the Home School Legal Defense Association's Web page
about Iowa warns home schoolers to scrutinize the Iowa Virtual School
Program. The posting says home-school parents may wind up waiving some
rights by enrolling their children in the program. Iowa's Stilwill said
department officials will study the program this summer and may urge
lawmakers next year to tighten the state's open-enrollment laws. Copyright
© 2003, The Des Moines Register
  #2  
Old June 28th 03, 11:54 AM
Greg Hanson
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Virtual school seeks Iowa funding

It's the teachers unions vs. homeschooling, classic turf (money) war.
(Ironic the school district gets to count the bodies for funding.)
  #3  
Old June 28th 03, 03:26 PM
Martin Rowley
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Virtual school seeks Iowa funding

Iowa is a Right-to-Work state.

Martin

Greg Hanson wrote:

It's the teachers unions vs. homeschooling, classic turf (money) war.
(Ironic the school district gets to count the bodies for funding.)

  #4  
Old June 28th 03, 05:28 PM
Joni Rathbun
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Virtual school seeks Iowa funding


On Sat, 28 Jun 2003, Martin Rowley wrote:

Iowa is a Right-to-Work state.


Furthermore, the homeschoolers are among those who have some concerns
about the program.

Martin

Greg Hanson wrote:

It's the teachers unions vs. homeschooling, classic turf (money) war.
(Ironic the school district gets to count the bodies for funding.)



  #5  
Old June 29th 03, 12:55 AM
Kane
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Virtual school seeks Iowa funding

Joni Rathbun wrote in message ...
On Sat, 28 Jun 2003, Martin Rowley wrote:

Iowa is a Right-to-Work state.


Furthermore, the homeschoolers are among those who have some concerns
about the program.


"some concerns"!?

Whew. It's a raging bonfire that's been going on since about 98 when
the first declared statement to "recover the homeschoolers" came out
of the schools.

This is just one, and a tiny one at that, of the efforts public
schooling is making to destroy homeschooling and "recover the children
for their own good".

Currently there is petition floating about with a statement making an
attempt to take back the name "homeschooling" that public officials
have coopted.

People that have their children enrolled in part time programs and are
thus subject to the directions and whims of the schools system want to
continue to call themselves "homeschoolers." Real homeschoolers, that
is independents, seem a bit miffed at the presumption that that public
school-homeschool amalgam is homeschooling.

Kane



Martin

Greg Hanson wrote:

It's the teachers unions vs. homeschooling, classic turf (money) war.
(Ironic the school district gets to count the bodies for funding.)


 




Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 07:14 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.6.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2004-2024 ParentingBanter.com.
The comments are property of their posters.