State budget protects districts from low-performing virtual schools
A little-known provision slipped into the budget signed by Gov. Scott Walker would keep low-performing virtual charter schools from dragging down the report cards of districts that host them.
The new law excludes the achievement scores of virtual charter schools from districts' annual state report cards if more than half the students enrolled in the virtual school reside outside the district.
The provision was sought by the leaders of the only two virtual schools in the state to receive failing grades on their most recent school report cards: eAchieve Academy, hosted by the Waukesha School District, andiForward Academy, hosted by the Grantsburg School District. Both districts still met or exceeded the state's expectations on their annual report cards.
But State Superintendent Tony Evers is critical of the change, saying it's inconsistent with the idea of bringing all publicly funded schools into the same school accountability system. He sought unsuccessfully for Walker to veto the item.
Proponents say virtual charters should be treated differently because they're serving many children not living in the district, who often have not been successful in other school settings and are coming to a virtual charter as a last resort — often bringing low achievement scores with them.
Rick Nettesheim, principal of Waukesha's eAchieve Academy, said district report cards are meant to track the progress of students from elementary school through high school, and virtual school students often come from outside their resident district, which wouldn't accurately reflect the achievement of the district.
"The truth is that virtual schools draw in by their very nature a fairly diverse population of students," Nettesheim said. "Some of that diversity is a large group who are not successful in their resident school, and they look to virtual school as a last hope."
Because they are online programs that allow teachers and students to work from home, virtual schools can enroll children all over the state through the state's open enrollment program.
The Department of Public Instruction lists 32 virtual charter schools for the 2014-'15 school year, with three more proposed for the upcoming school year.
In 2013-'14, the most recent year report cards were issued, 27 of the 31 virtual schools that received state report cards "met expectations." Two "exceeded expectations," and two "failed to meet expectations."
No schools or districts will receive report cards for the 2014-'15 school year. Separate legislation signed by Walker in May paused the system for a year while a new state test was implemented.
Report cards assess performance
In recent years, Wisconsin created a new system to judge public school and district performance. Annual report cards distributed to the public now rank schools and districts in one of five categories, from "significantly exceeds expectations" to "fails to meet expectations."
The new state budget calls for those descriptions to be replaced with a five-star rating system.
The report card scores are based on measures such as achievement on the state test and academic growth over time, as well as school attendance and achievement gaps. Schools started receiving report cards in 2011-'12; districts started receiving them a year later.
The whole system went into place as part of a federally approved waiver from increasingly strict mandates of the No Child Left Behind law. Congress is in the process of rewriting that law.
Nettesheim said the report cards treat students as if they have been enrolled in the school year after year, which is often not the case for virtual schools, where kids from around the state may enroll and drop out more frequently.
He added that virtual schools are still being held accountable because each virtual charter school still will receive an individual school report card. Their scores would simply be excluded from the districtwide report card.
But many brick-and-mortar schools also see high student turnover, and their school scores still contribute to the districtwide report card.
For example, many Milwaukee city schools that serve vulnerable populations see up to a third of students turn over during the school year. Yet their scores still contribute to the Milwaukee Public Schools districtwide report card.
Request drove change
State Sen. Luther Olsen (R-Ripon) added the provision to the budget at the behest of Nettesheim and Joni Burgin, superintendent of the Grantsburg school district. Olsen said the provision will help encourage school districts to continue supporting virtual programs.
"The district is doing mission work (taking on virtual schools)," Olsen said. "I don't think the system is reflected badly on the district; we don't want these districts to not do this anymore because it's bringing down the grade for the district."
Olsen said the provision encourages more districts to host virtual schools because of the reduced risk.State budget protects districts from low-performing virtual schools: