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Area districts not plugged in with online schools

November 5, 2011 By Leave a Comment

An increasing number of online schools, known as virtual charter schools, is helping public school systems in Wisconsin pull in more students from outside their district boundaries, but Eau Claire and most other school districts in this part of the state haven’t joined in.
The Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance last month released a study showing a record number of students – 34,498 – attended schools outside their home district during the 2010-11 school year. That’s the highest number since the state’s open enrollment program – which lets students attend schools outside the district in which they live – began in the 1998-99 school year.
“While open enrollment has grown steadily since program inception in 1999, the spread of online schools helped drive numbers in recent years,” a WTA statement reads.
However, none of the Chippewa Valley’s largest school districts – Eau Claire, Chippewa Falls, Menomonie and Altoona – operates virtual schools. Eau Claire Superintendent Ron Heilmann said district officials have discussed the subject.
“We’ve talked about it numerous times,” Heilmann said, noting district officials studied virtual charter schools several years ago but determined opening one would be too expensive.

For the rest of the article, go to Area districts not plugged in with online schools.

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IZUMI: Lesson from Wisconsin

May 10, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Online education provides instruction to students through interactive programs using the Internet. Virtual charter schools are deregulated public schools independent of school districts, not subject to local teachers union contracts. They enable students to learn at home or any remote location using online learning.Because no expensive brick-and-mortar facility is needed and students can learn from star teachers located anywhere, even out of state, parents and students need not be tied down to their expensive unionized neighborhood public school.

At virtual charters, students read, write essays, take tests and conduct experiments, all through online programs.Virtual charter school teachers are available continuously to students through email, instant messaging, phone or Web conferences, and face-to-face meetings.

For the rest of the article, go to IZUMI: Lesson from Wisconsin

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The Republican War on Education

April 26, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Governor Scott Walker’s unprecedented $900 million cut to school funding, coupled with a scheme to create a state-run system of charter schools, will kill off both the school and the town, they said. Under S.B. 22, the bill they came to oppose, students and funds that used to go to schools like Montello’s will be siphoned off to virtual charter schools run by a state board of political appointees.

“There will be no turning back,” Sheller said. “Small schools and their communities will wither and die—and for what? A political maneuver to allow privatization of public education at the expense of Wisconsin’s history as a leader in student achievement. This is giving away our future.”

For the rest of the article, go to The Republican War on Education

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Budget impacts schools

April 11, 2011 By Leave a Comment

A report released last week by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction showed students enrolled in the Choice program scored lower in statewide tests than those enrolled in the Milwaukee public school system. Under the governor’s budget proposal, Choice schools would no long have to administer the statewide test (WKCE), allowing them instead to administer any “nationally-normed test” of their choosing.

Other items in the budget proposal repeal the requirement that charter school teachers acquire licensure, expand the window for open enrollment and eliminate the statewide enrollment cap for virtual charter schools.

“There are so many aspects of the budget that I don’t think the public understands,” Kintop said. “I feel like this is so much bigger than this bill or this budget.”

Of interest to rural schools is an item in the governor’s budget proposal that repeals a revenue limit exemption that would have taken effect in 2011-12. It allowed districts to place costs for transportation and a few other select expenses outside the revenue cap.

The exemption for transportation costs would have had a great impact in rural districts, especially in the northern half of the state. South Shore, for example, has among the highest per pupil transportation costs in the state — nearly $1,000 more per pupil than the average.

For the rest of the article, go to Budget impacts schools

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Walker touts plan for charter schools to improve Wisconsin K-12 education

April 8, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Charter schools are public schools that receive tax dollars but are run by independent school boards. They are established by charter contracts with school boards or, in Milwaukee and Racine, with other entities. Charter schools are supposed to live up to certain performance expectations or else risk closure.

Walker’s budget would allow any four-year University of Wisconsin campus to establish a charter school and remove a requirement that charter school teachers have licenses to teach if they have bachelor’s degrees. His budget proposal also would remove the cap on the number of students who can use the state’s open enrollment system to enroll in virtual charter schools.

For the rest of the article, go to Walker touts plan for charter schools to improve Wisconsin K-12 education

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School choice programs get boost in Walker budget

March 7, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Meanwhile, Milwaukee’s 20-year-old voucher program would receive $22.5 million more to accommodate 1,300 additional students. The growth would result from Walker’s proposal to remove the program’s income requirements and enrollment caps.

And independent charter schools would receive $18.4 million more over the biennium. Walker is projecting 600 additional students as his proposal would lift the state enrollment cap on virtual charter schools, allow the UW System’s 13 four-year universities to establish charter schools, and allow independent charter schools in any district in the state.

Independent charter schools are currently limited to Milwaukee and Racine counties. Most of the state’s more than 200 charter schools are authorized by local school districts.

For the rest of the article, go to School choice programs get boost in Walker budget

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Walker: After budget, school reform

February 28, 2011 By Leave a Comment

During the campaign, Walker introduced an education reform plan that included grading schools on an A to F scale and requiring persistently failing schools to transform by changing staff or even closing. Another part of his plan would evaluate teachers on five criteria and rate them as “ineffective,” “needs improvement,” “satisfactory” or “exemplary”; it also would strip the licenses from teachers deemed “ineffective” for two years in a row while qualifying satisfactory and exemplary teachers for bonuses.

Walker also favors lifting the cap on enrollment in Milwaukee’s private school voucher program and the statewide cap on open enrollment participation in virtual charter schools.

For the rest of the article, go to Walker: After budget, school reform

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Rules vary for virtual school providers

February 27, 2011 By Leave a Comment

The entry of companies such as Kaplan, a Florida-based subsidiary of the Washington Post Co., into Oshkosh and across Wisconsin has set off a debate about the standards for screening and the consequences of having unlicensed teachers educate students.

Wisconsin public schools are increasingly using private companies to replace niche courses that have low enrollments with online alternatives. In many cases, districts also use these services to offer students the option of learning from home using computers, which allows the district to retain state aid dollars attached to those students.

Some school systems have aggressively used virtual charter schools to lure out-of-district students who are free to enroll from anywhere provided there is space under the state’s open enrollment laws.

For the rest of the article, go to Rules vary for virtual school providers

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School Board debates statewide issues

January 12, 2011 By Leave a Comment

School Board candidate John Meegan injected his own thoughts in an e-mail to board members and statements during the public comments session. They included opposition to a proposal for state aid to rise by a “predictable percentage” each year and allowing portions of a pot of money called the “Common School Fund” to be used to hire librarians in addition to purchase of library materials.

One issue that generated much discussion was a WASB recommendation to restrict the percentage of “open enrollment” students allowed to study in Baraboo or other schools to 3 percent. WASB also asked its member boards to support restrictions on the number of students allowed to study online, through so-called virtual charter schools.

For the rest of the article, go to School Board debates statewide issues

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State superintendent considers lifting cap on school vouchers

December 14, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Enlistees in the voucher program receive government vouchers that can be applied toward tuition at a private school, allowing children to attend a school other than the one they were assigned to.

Virtual charter schools are online schools that receive public money but are not required to follow state education guidelines and statutes.

Neither program’s enrollment caps have been exceeded — the voucher program was started in 1990, the virtual program in 2008 — nor will lifting the limits significantly increase enrollments, Gasper said.

For the rest of the article, go to State superintendent considers lifting cap on school vouchers

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