Tom Vander Ark: Blended Learning Can be an Answer to State Ed. Budget Problems

It’s a tough time to be a state legislator. Recently, I spent a Saturday morning listening to Washington State House Education Committee testimony from school board members, teachers, principals, and parents of kids in special program all speaking against budget cuts.
No one in the room seemed to understand that everything is different this time.
As governors across the country prepare their budget proposals for the coming year, they continue to face a daunting fiscal challenge. The worst recession since the 1930s has caused the steepest decline in state tax receipts on record. State tax collections, adjusted for inflation, are now 12 percent below pre-recession levels, while the need for state-funded services has not declined. As a result, even after making very deep spending cuts over the last several years, states continue to face large budget gaps.
The budget cuts will be huge in most state for several years to come, and you can be sure that education will be crowded out by Medicaid, corrections, and emergency spending on deferred infrastructure.
So what is a governor or state legislator to do? Each state is unique and will need to build their own list of budget cuts, but in at least one area, state policymakers need to lead on school based budgeting, blended learning, and performance-based employment.
That's right, blended learning is an important part of the solution mix.
To absorb 20 percent cuts and boost outcomes, schools will need to incorporate personal digital learning. By blending online and onsite learning, schools can save money and boost academic outcomes.
Click here to read more of my thoughts on why blended learning is a means to fix for state budget problems.