Guest Commentary: Oregon Catlayst Asks Why the Union-Backed Oregon Virtual School District is Student Free?

Oregon’s major teachers union, The Oregon Education Association (OEA), is seen by many observers as the big loser coming out of the recent legislative session in Salem. Why? Because it failed to convince enough legislators to stop some modest school choice bills from passing. It also couldn’t stop Gov. John Kitzhaber, whom it endorsed and financially supported, from agreeing to sign these bills as part of a larger education reform package, according to Oregon Catalyst.
The highest profile bill in question was House Bill 2301, known as the virtual public charter school bill. The union has been trying to shut down online public charter schools ever since they started making inroads several years ago. This year it had hoped to cripple these schools, which it sees as competition to the brick-and-mortar schools in which its members teach. Instead, the legislature agreed to let these online schools expand from teaching about one percent of the state’s K-12 students now up to at least three percent of students in any and all school districts around the state, the statewide group recently posted on its website.
In 2005 the union backed a bill to create a state-run competitor to these innovative online schools. Known as the Oregon Virtual School District, it has since been funded to the tune of more than seven million dollars. Legislators appropriated the funds with the intention that the district would “provide online courses.” But as Nigel Jaquiss reported in his recent Willamette Week exposé, “…after six years and the appropriation of $7.1 million, including another $1.5 million lawmakers just approved for the current biennium, the Oregon Virtual School District has yet to provide a single ‘course.’”
Click here to read more about the union-backed school district that doesn't have any students.

Tom Vander Ark: Gubernatorial Takeover of Oregon Schools Chief Job Should be Good for Online Education

In June, the Oregon legislature abolished the position of elected superintendent and gave the responsibility to the governor who will appoint a deputy. The change won’t take place until the current state schools chief Susan Castillo leaves office in 2015.
Traditionally, elected superintendent don’t lead very aggressive reforms because the majority of their support came from employee groups. However, Idaho chief Tom Luna and Oklahoma chief Jane Barresi are bucking this trend with very aggressive reforms to education employment laws and with the support of Republican-controlled legislatures.
This should be a positive move for education reform and specifically for online and blended learning in Oregon.
Click here to read more of my thoughts on what's happening in Oregon.

Christina Martin: Recent K-12 Education Reforms Let Kids Transfer to a Brighter Future

Public education exists to serve children – period. However, as evidenced by the Oregon Education Association’s (OEA) ongoing actions, some believe public education should serve primarily the adults who work in the system. Thankfully, this legislative session, Oregon’s state leaders concluded otherwise.
After tense negotiations on several education-related bills, Oregon’s legislature passed the most substantial education reforms Oregon has seen in decades, at the governor’s request. The more “controversial” elements of that package will provide students – who find their traditional public schools unsuitable – more educational options from which to choose, including charter and online schools. Such student-focused, choice-based measures were a particular pebble in the OEA’s shoe. Click here to find out why.

Christina Martin: Victories for Oregon’s K-12 Kids

Oregon’s legislators looked somewhat frenzied as they fought for key education reforms in Oregon. After tense negotiations, significant amendments, and a tug-of-war on several education bills, the Oregon legislature passed a package of education reforms with strong bipartisan support. The governor has said that he supports all bills in this package, meaning that these bills should soon be law.
While some of the reforms have problems, the overall outcome is excellent as it gives significantly more power to parents to choose the right public school for their kids. Among the reforms are freer access to virtual charter schools, creation of college-sponsored charter schools, and more school choice.
Click here to read more about this great victory for Oregon students.

Christina Martin: Report From the Virtual Education Movement Front

Just hours after a hearing on on a bill, SB 927, that would kill virtual charter schools in Oregon, I went on the radio to talk to Bill Post.
I explained why the Oregon Education Association, the state's largest teachers union, is against charter schools, and why they support SB 927.
During our conversation, we talked about choice, teacher pay at charters vs. traditional public schools and the promise of virtual education. We also talked about "what's next" for SB 927.
Bill posted a podcast of the May 12 show. Click here, scroll down to the May 12 show, and then go to the 13:40 minute to hear our conversation.

Christina Martin: Oregon Showdown OverAnti-Virtual Charter School Bill is at Hand

It started this morning. The Oregon House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Education will hold a public hearing for a bill that essentially would force Oregon’s virtual charter schools to close.
The bill (SB 927) closely resembles an idea that the OEA (Oregon Education Association, a union) proposed last year to the Oregon State Board of Education. The bill in its current form would:
*Force all existing virtual charter schools to close and to reopen as alternative schools, which in Oregon are generally only for at-risk students.
*Make existing districts the creators and providers of online content, managed by a consortium called the Oregon Option Consortium. Individual districts would be able to purchase courses from the consortium (which would be run by the Oregon Virtual School District).
*Each student could enroll in the consortium’s classes only if a district-appointed advisory team decides the classes are suitable for the student.
Click here to read more about this anti-virtual charter school bill and what you can do to help defeat it.

Guest Commentary: Parent of Oregon Virtual Ed. student says 'Let Our Children Go'

My son attends the Oregon Virtual Academy (ORVA) "to fulfill his academic range of four different elementary and middle school grade levels in the same school year," David Atman wrote in the Oregon Register Guard.
He is " ' a special needs' seventh-grade student — catching up in sixth-grade English, fifth-grade math and fourth-grade history and art — or a talented-and-gifted fourth-grader accelerating his studies with fifth-grade math, sixth-grade English and seventh-grade science, four different grade levels in one year, half in middle school and half in elementary school, is cumbersome at best, and probably impossible in most public or private brick and mortar schools," Atman continued.
Atman added that there are many more reasons for choosing virtual schools exist.
Yet, he continued, some in Oregon have problems with expanding virtual education opportunities and making it easier for parents to guide their children to online opportunities.
Oregon’s Senate Bill 927, being discussed in Salem , ignores the recommendations in the report made by the state Board of Education, which was mandated by the Legislature in House Bill 3660 to give a virtual-school game plan to politicians, Atman wrote.
SB 927, as written, would close the existing two public virtual schools, would create a new administrative agency and take choice away from parents, he added.
Click here to read what Atman and other Oregon parents would like to see the Oregon legislature do to allow their children to go to virtual schools.

Christina Martin: Will Oregon's Legislature Help K-12 Education Get Online?

Oregon's legislature is again considering several bills that would affect K-12 students' access to online education. While virtual charter schools (public schools operated by non-profit organizations that provide a full-time online education for K-12 kids) are valuable and worth protecting, it seems that our elected officials are missing the forest for the trees.
The most exciting potential for online education to advance K-12 learning is not in the full-time online education model, although that is an essential option. Rather, part-time and the blended learning approach hold the greatest promise to rapidly improve Oregon's education opportunities.
Part-time learning allows students enrolled in a regular brick-and-mortar public school to enroll in one or more online courses. Blended learning combines face-to-face teaching with online curriculum.
Click here to read more on the three online education bills the Oregon House Education Committee has heard testimony about this year. Oregon's kids deserve more options, not fewer. Creating more effective online educational opportunities does not require increased spending, but it does require smarter spending and flexibility.

Tom Vander Ark: Oregon's Wrong Turn

If you read the expert report Digital Learning Now and decided to do the exact opposite to block any semblance of progress in Oregon, you would write SB 927.
The state government would effectively control online learning from course selection to distribution and everything in between. It shuts down virtual charters, restricts student access and eliminates choices.
Oregon SB 927 creates the misnamed "Oregon Option Consortium." It should be called "Oregon in Reverse."
Click here to read the rest of my post and to find a link to the bill.

Christina Martin: Oregon's K-12 Future Must Include Online Education Options

According to the College Board, 75% of Oregon schools do not offer Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate classes in the four core courses: reading, math, science and social studies.
Many Oregon schools face budget cuts. How can Oregon increase opportunities for its students, allowing kids to reach their academic potential? By giving parents the power to choose programs beyond their local district school. This should extend to allowing kids to stay in their local public school while attending classes that aren’t offered locally.
Online education programs already make a wide array of courses available to students across the country while keeping costs low. Programs like Florida’s Virtual School allow thousands of kids attending regular public schools to access effective advanced courses, as well as rudimentary courses designed to help them catch up with their peers.
This session, Oregon’s legislature is considering how the state should move forward with online education. Legislators should continue to allow online public charter schools to provide full-time programs to Oregon’s kids. But legislators also should empower students across the state to benefit from high-quality individual online classes on a course-by-course basis.
Spread the word about the benefits online education and what it would mean for Oregon's future. Click here for an audio clip, suitable for broadcast, and click here to download a PDF of this "Quick Point."

Guest Commentary from Oregon: Let Our Virtual Schools Flourish

Jerry Wilks is executive director of Oregon Connections Academy, the largest virtual charter school in his state.
Wilks recently took time to write an opinion piece published in the Scio, Oregon Democrat Herald that outline the hurdles virtual education faces in the state.
"These schools are currently hampered by enrollment caps and other restrictions which limit a student’s ability to pursue their education through online courses," Wilks wrote.
He then went on to challenge state legislators, who launched the 2011 legislative session on Feb. 1, to take action to liberate Oregon's virtual education movement.
"Virtual education is at a crossroads in Oregon. The legislature should bring people together to look for innovative tools to help our students succeed in the classroom. Virtual schools are one of those innovative tools. It’s time to stop debating the merits of virtual schools and choose the right path for our children," Wilks concluded.
Click here to read the entire essay.

Guest Commentary: The Viewpoint of a Virtual Teacher

Oregon's Jane Bartosz spent 15 years teaching in a traditional classroom. She wanted a change. So she decided to try teaching online.
She joined Oregon Connections Academy six years ago. As Bartosz puts it, "I made a choice that works for me."
It is also a choice that works for Bartosz's students.
"I'm more able to tailor my teaching to meet the individual needs of students, whether they're struggling to catch up or happen to be in the gifted category. There are weekly live lessons where I connect directly with students, and there's lots of one-on-one time over the phone and email," she writes.
There are many voices heard in the debate over virtual education. Too often, the voices of teachers are not heard.
Bartosz isn't wearing rose-colored glasses when it comes to virtual education. Still, she is positive about its future.
Read her complete post here.

Guest Commentary: Oregon Shouldn't Limit Access to Virtual Schools

The Portland Oregonian Editorial Board said it bluntly, "A state where a quarter of the students drop out of public schools ought to have better things to do than figuring out ways to limit access" to virtual schools.
The editorial writers also wonder why "once the state is convinced that online students are receiving a quality education, why should it prevent other families from making the same choice?"
Many Oregon parents who want to enrollment their children in virtual course, but cannot because of state-imposed enrollment caps, are asking the same question.

Will Oregon's Virtual Charter Schools Survive?

This is a good question that Oregonians need to think about and answer.

For more than a year, Oregon's virtual charter schools have been under attack. The state's largest teachers union, the Oregon Education Association, supported a legislative bill with restrictions so tough, that if fully adopted, the state's virtual charters could have been put out of business.

The legislature did approve restrictions, including enrollment caps, but did not go as far as the teachers union wanted. Still, the future for the virtual charters is uncertain.

I take a detailed look at what is going on in Oregon, including the OEA's list of suggested regulations for virtual charters it recently submitted to the Oregon State Board of Education.

Oregon Board of Education Continues to Look at Virtual Charter School Issue

Oregon parents voiced their frustration to the state Board of Education about hurdles local school districts appear to be placing in front of children who want to participate in the Oregon Virtual Academy.

Parents told the board that is difficult to get the required release from the local school district so their children can enroll in the virtual school.

What’s more, parents must reapply for the release every year they choose to keep their children in the virtual school. They said some districts have denied reenrollment permission even after a child, who struggled in a traditional school, has shown improvement in the virtual school.

Watch the parents’ testimony and the board’s response. One interesting note: the board’s chairman said “virtual charter schools could become a more front-and-center issue in Oregon’s education policy in the next 5 to 7 years.”