Guest Commentary: Tight State Budgets Make Cyber Charter Schools Easy Targets

James Hanak is the CEO of Pennsylvania Leadership Charter School in West Chester. Virtual education leaders like Hanak are on the front lines of the battle over state funding and K-12 online courses.

"In recent months, conversations surrounding the funding of Pennsylvania’s 12 cyber charter schools have reached a fever pitch, not only in Harrisburg, but across the commonwealth,' Hanak wrote for PennLive.com.
"Though this type of charter school represents the only true public school choice for all 1.87 million K-12 students in Pennsylvania, cyber charter schools have undeservedly drawn heavy criticism and found themselves on the funding chopping block," he continued.
"The common thread of criticism from the Pennsylvania School Board Association, teachers unions and increasingly from individual school districts is that the school district has no oversight or knowledge of the inner workings of the cyber charter schools that take away students and money.
"In a time of tight budgets and subsidy cuts from the state, superintendents are looking for ways to generate additional income. As a result, Pennsylvania cyber charter schools have become an easy target," he added.
Click here for the complete article.

Guest Commentary: Oklahoman Editorial Says 'Flap Over Online School Stokes Long-Simmering Feud'

"Twentieth-century school policies met 21st-century technology. The result wasn't pretty."
That's the opening of the Oklahoman editorial on the recent controversy over the launch of Oklahoma's first virtual school charter.
The school, Epic One, has been plagued with a series of problems that delayed its opening by more than a year.
Now, while it is enrolling students from throughout the state and getting ready to open this fall, another problem cropped up.
"Dozens of parents had their children's school plans disrupted and were left scrambling to make alternate plans. Oklahoma City schools Superintendent Karl Springer complained about a virtual charter school possibly trying to “franchise” all over the state in violation of its contract. The charter school in question — Epic One on One Charter School — maintains its on-site plans weren't actually schools. And state education officials were left to referee two issues pertaining to charter school law and school transfer policy, apparently to the full satisfaction of no one," according to the editorial.
"Sooner rather than later, either the state Education Department or lawmakers need to revisit the transfer and charter school laws with an eye toward online schooling trends," the editorial added.
Click here to read the complete editorial and read more about "the uneasy relationship" between Oklahoma's charter and traditional schools.

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.

Guest Commentary: Thoughts from the Virtual Graduating Class of 2011

William Cattron, a PA Cyber Charter graduating senior, was chosen as the senior speaker for the Western Graduation ceremony.
Nearly 1,500 students graduated from PA Cyber Charter School this year. In his speech, Cattron characterized his fellow grads as a " graduating class that has taken advantage of a cutting edge education."
"Seek out the opportunities that are there for your special talent and go live an exceptional life—a life with purpose and meaning. Show the world what we PA Cyber graduates have and can accomplish. We have not and will not be assembly lined—our individual differences are what make us strong. These individual differences will make us successful," Cattron urged his classmates.
"My family and I continued with PA Cyber because we learned that it had a better math and science curriculum and I had greater access to college classes while still in high school. I’ve enjoyed my college classes and my PA Cyber virtual classes, especially the interaction with the other students and teachers," he continued. "Thank you PA Cyber for helping me fulfill my high school dreams and preparing me to achieve my college dreams."
Click here to read Cattron's entire speech.

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.

Lisa Graham Keegan: Georgia on My Mind

This week's decision by the Georgia Supreme Court does not eliminate public charter schools in Georgia. It is simply a devastating reminder of how incredibly wrong our state laws for funding students are. And worse, how we wear out our best advocates through mind-numbing and repetitive defeats like this.
The time has come and gone and come again for states to quit funding districts, and to start funding students. Money in backpacks, traveling to any school that will openly accept all students and report on their progress via state measurement systems.
Click here to read more of my thoughts on what's happening in Georgia and for more links on background information on this issue.

Christina Martin: Expand Charter School Rights in Oregon

The Oregonian painted the picture of what happened in Salem on March 8: "As virtual charter school families rallied on the state capitol steps, the Oregon House was due to vote on House Bill 2287, which would expand charter school rights.
"But just before the bill was debated on the floor," the Oregonian report continued, "Republicans and Democrats requested a caucus meeting."
The upshot: Debate, and any vote, on the bill was delayed. The Oregon House is scheduled to take up the issue again on March 14.
HB 2287, which has bipartisan support, would create consistent guidelines for school districts to follow when they decided whether to accept or deny a proposed charter school. The measure also prohibits districts from imposing bureaucratic obstacles that are intended to delay a proposed charter school from moving forward.
These changes would benefit virtual charter schools. In 2009, the state legislature narrowly passed and created restrictions on virtual charters. The bill placed a two-year moratorium on the growth of existing schools by restricting them to the student counts enrolled on May 1, 2009. HB 2287 would help in the expansion of existing virtual charters and ease creation of new virtual charters.
In February, I testified before the House Education Committee about the need for passage of HB 2287. Click here to read my testimony.

Guest Commentary: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Backs Lifting Cap on Virtual Charter Enrollment

"Virtual schools aren't for every child, but they can be helpful for some students. And there is no logical reason to cap enrollment," states an editorial in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
The leading newspaper in Wisconsin did not agree with everything in Gov. Scott Walker's education reform proposal, but the newspaper's support for parts of his plan is significant. What's more, the stand may sway a few minds.
The impact of lifting enrollment caps, according to an article in the newspaper, are not clear. "Several elements could hamper an enormous jump in choice enrollment, at least initially. First, capacity is limited at existing charter schools and private schools that now accept voucher students, and many popular schools have waiting lists to get in," according to the article.
Click here to read the Journal Sentinel's editorial.
Click here to read the news story on Gov. Walker's plan and its potential impact on Milwaukee Public Schools.

Christina Martin: Union's School Funding Fears Unfounded, Study Finds

Online charter schools offer kids even in the far corners of Oregon the chance to receive a public education tailored to their individual needs. Yet many districts and union representatives oppose Oregon's virtual charter schools claiming they drain money from local districts.
Due to these complaints, Oregon's legislature will consider allowing school districts to deny additional students access to virtual charter schools if 3 percent of the district's students have already enrolled in an online option.
But a report released earlier this month by the Cascade Policy Institute shows that these fears are unfounded. Overall, online school have had little impact on spending and actually can allow district to spend more per student.
Unlike ordinary public schools, online charters do not receive local funding and they receive substantially less per-student funding than traditional public schools. That means a student to an online charter school usually enables the student's home district, and the charter school's sponsoring district, to spend more money per remaining traditional public school student.
While virtual charters have little financial impact on school districts, they have a huge impact on each child who thrives in an online school. Instead of talking about limiting options further, legislators, district officials, and union members should celebrate success and look for ways to increase kids' educational opportunities.
Click here to read the full report.

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.