Recording: K12 Inc. struggled to comply with law
BY TREVOR AARONSON AND JOHN O’CONNOR
FLORIDA CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING/STATEIMPACT FLORIDA
The Florida Center for Investigative Reporting and StateImpact Florida have obtained internal emails and a recording of a company meeting that provide new insight into allegations that K12 Inc., the nation’s largest online education company, uses teachers in Florida who do not have all of the required state certifications.
Last month, a draft report by the state Department of Education’s Office of Inspector General found that the publicly traded company employed at least three teachers in Seminole County who did not have the proper state subject certifications. According to Florida law, teachers must pass three exams to earn state certification as well as be certified for the subjects and grades they teach.
Department of Education investigators did not find teachers without state certification, as a complaint filed by the Seminole County School District had claimed. But the investigators did find teachers without necessary subject certifications. The draft report attributed the problem to sloppy paperwork at Virginia-