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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 |
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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.) |
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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.) |
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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.) |
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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.) |
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