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Extra Credit: National charter school movement critical of Wisconsin’s law

January 21, 2012 By Leave a Comment

The state’s ranking dropped two spots from 34th in 2010 to 36th out of 42 states with charter school laws last year, even after Gov. Scott Walker and Republicans in the legislature lifted the cap on virtual charter school enrollment, a change favored by charter school proponents.

But the report also shows that Wisconsin has the seventh-highest number of charter schools with 225 (if you consider charter schools per capita, Wisconsin ranks third).

That’s a sign that Wisconsin’s law is doing what it was intended to do — provide local innovative educational programming while protecting local property taxpayers, Department of Public Instruction spokesman Patrick Gasper said.

“Clearly many communities are taking advantage of this option in Wisconsin,” Gasper said, adding that Wisconsin also hasn’t experienced “the fraud and abuse of public money that has occurred in other states.”

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BHS uses Web as learning tool

November 19, 2011 By Leave a Comment

All students taking online courses at BHS have the assistance of people like Bergs, whom Kopfhamer called mentor teachers.

Baraboo’s online program is not a virtual charter school like school districts in Appleton and Waukesha operate, Kopfhamer said. Under state rules, students from outside Baraboo who participate must attend school at BHS under the open enrollment program.

School Board Vice President Doug Mering noted that Baraboo is competing with other districts’ Internet schools for local students.

“When they come here, they’re on television advertising, radio advertising saying ‘We are wonderful,’” he said. “How do we get out the word that we’re wonderful, too? And it really is true.”

Board member Peter Vedro stressed the importance of Baraboo’s online program providing students in-person help from teachers in addition to virtual sessions.

“It is an in-district program, and it is guided by classroom teachers with support,” he said. “I don’t think other (online) schools can say that for our students.”

Kopfhamer said she would like to see expansion of online education opportunities.

“We are looking to see how we can blend online with summer school options,” she said. “We need to look at online for middle and elementary school students.”

Vedro said Friday many families in the community who have chosen to home-school their children, including those participating in online charter schools. Expanding online education is a way the Baraboo School District could serve traditional students as well as meet the needs of other students and parents in the community.

 

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Open Enrollment Law Expands School Choice for Wisconsin Families

November 9, 2011 By Leave a Comment

FREDONIA, Wisc., Nov. 8, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Hundreds of students wanting to get into a virtual charter school may qualify for immediate open enrollment under special criteria in a new Wisconsin school law, according to Wisconsin Virtual Learning Executive Director Melissa Horn.

SB2, which needs only the governor’s signature to become law, also expands Wisconsin’s open enrollment period for the next school year to three full months in February, March and April.

“Our school was very involved in promoting this bill with our legislators because hundreds of families contact us throughout the school year, looking for an educational alternative to resolve an immediate academic or behavioral problem their child is facing in school. Until now, these families sometimes had to wait over a year before their child could enroll,” Horn said.

“SB2 gives families more freedom to choose the best learning environment for their child,” she said. “With this bill, students will no longer have to wait to get the education they deserve, in the environment that works best for them.”

Whether applying for immediate enrollment under special circumstances or preparing for the spring open enrollment period, the first step for families interested in virtual school, Horn said, is to fill out the brief enrollment form on the school website, www.wisconsinvl.net. This starts the enrollment process and will trigger a call from a student learning advocate to discuss the needs of the family and the offerings of Wisconsin Virtual Learning.

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GB school voucher plan in jeopardy

June 3, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Vos said for the next school year, only 250 students would be allowed to use vouchers in Racine but they could earn up to 185 percent of the poverty level, or $41,348 for a family of four. In the second year, 500 students would be allowed and they could earn up to 300 percent of the poverty level, or $67,050 for a family of four.

After that, there would be no enrollment cap in Racine.

The income level to participate in the program in Milwaukee would be 300 percent of poverty.

Also, the committee plans to go along with Walker’s plan to eliminate the program’s statewide 22,500-student enrollment cap. The committee also planned to do away with a 5,250-student enrollment cap for virtual charter schools.

Supporters of Milwaukee’s 20-year-old voucher program say it gives is about giving families more choices in where to send their children to be educated, but Democrats deride it as the privatization of public education.

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‘Morally wrong,’ says bureaucrat, for teachers to teach in schools he doesn’t control

May 25, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Mind you, in the one place that has such school choice now, Milwaukee, it’s not as if the state directly takes the $6,442 that follows a choice child right out of the local public schools’ pot of money. As Shaw must know, school choice money doesn’t come out of the public schools’ pile at all. See the simple explanation from the state’s nonpartisan accountants: Choice gets funded entirely apart from public schools, so it no more eats into public schools’ budget than do, say, tech colleges or the state patrol.

But if a kid were to take a voucher and leave Racine Unified, the district would lose some state aid. That’s exactly as the district loses state aid now if the child’s parents use their own money to send him to, say, Racine Lutheran High School. The district loses that same $6K right now if the parents use open enrollment to send the child to Oak Creek’s public schools or to a virtual charter school. The district loses that state aid if the child’s parents just move to Union Grove.

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Gov. Walker defends proposal cutting Wis. schools

March 22, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Under the contentious new law, public employees will only be able to collectively bargain over wage increases no greater than inflation. Walker argues that will free school districts to seek out other, less expensive, insurance providers than those currently called for under collective bargaining agreements.

Walker has said those savings, combined with money districts will save through teachers and other employees paying more for their benefits, will help negate the aid reduction he’s proposing in the two-year state budget.

The governor called a Wednesday afternoon news conference with three school superintendents to talk about his plan.

Democratic lawmakers say Walker is trying to defund public schools and privatize the educational system. His plan repeals the enrollment limit for the virtual charter school and Milwaukee school choice programs at the same time it cuts aid to public schools.

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Further Details of Governor Walker’s Budget Plan

March 15, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Medicaid – $500 million cut in programs, including by increasing co-payments and deductibles, but no across-the-board cuts in benefits.

Education – $900 million cut to public K-12 schools and limits on property tax contributions; repeal of enrollment caps on the virtual charter school program and Milwaukee Parental School Choice Program.

For the rest of the article, go to Further Details of Governor Walker’s Budget Plan

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Wausau, Everest school districts’ open enrollment sees continued growth

February 11, 2011 By Leave a Comment

The number of Wausau-area parents taking advantage of the state’s open enrollment program is steadily increasing.

Open enrollment is a 13-year-old program that gives parents the opportunity to send their children to any public school district in the state, including Wisconsin’s 14 virtual charter schools. Before the program, children were restricted to the school districts in which they lived.

So far, the open-enrollment program has not had great impact on student populations in districts such as Wausau and D.C. Everest, because the number of outgoing students is fairly close to the number of incoming students, district administrators say.

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District has plans for virtual charter school

January 24, 2011 By Leave a Comment

The Barron Area School District is moving forward with plans to ask the state’s permission to create a virtual charter school, which is aimed at helping keep the district competitive in education.

Both the policy/personnel committee and the full school board have voted their support for the measure, and the district plans to notify the state by the Feb. 3 deadline that it wants to open a virtual charter school, which will go by the name Advanced Learning Academy of Wisconsin.

Superintendent Monti Hallberg said that Cameron started one this past academic year for their schools, which caught Barron educators by surprise. Barron now is trying to set up its own program.

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New Legislature may mean new options for local schools

January 19, 2011 By Leave a Comment

More choices

Sen. Luther Olsen, R-Ripon, and Rep. Steve Kestell, R-Elkhart Lake, the new chairmen of the Legislature’s education committees, want to remove the cap on virtual charter school enrollment. Olsen also wants to expand virtual learning opportunities within brick-and-mortar schools to let students progress at their own pace.

“We want to give students more choices to be successful,” Olsen said. “If they can get done faster than the old model, let’s let them move on.” The leaders also want to look at expanding Milwaukee Parental Choice, the state’s only private school voucher program, which Vos and Darling said last week they support.

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