After reading Bill Tucker’s proposal on
virtual school funding, it made me think of my own experience in the pre-virtual world, and testing out of a subject. When I was in high school, and was given the option to test out of senior government, I jumped at the chance. I bought a two-sided cheat sheet at the junior college with the basics of civics and government, and spent one weekend of prep. I passed the test, fulfilled my government requirement, and freed up some space in my senior year schedule. This was great for me, but I wonder if it would have been a good investment of tax dollars if someone had received funding for the educational services that were provided to me (i.e. none).
Bill proposes to fund virtual schools on a performance basis instead of an attendance basis. Basically if a student passes a test at the end of the virtual term (however long that may be), then the school gets paid. So, under Bill’s virtual school funding proposal, virtual schools – public and private – would get paid for a similar type of service provision that I received in testing out of senior government.
Assume that the state was paying public and private companies based on student outcomes. Both entities would target their marketing at students like me that could pass the test with almost no effort on their part. In my
