Plan to outlaw for-profit charters hits online ed too
(Calif.) Legislation aimed at prohibiting for-profit charter schools from operating in California would likely also disrupt educational services to about 25,000 students pursuing online independent study.
AB 406 by Assemblyman Kevin McCarty, D-Sacramento, would impose a deadline of January, 2019 for when for-profit charters and for-profit management organizations would have to be out of California.
“The privatization of public education must end,” McCarty said in a statement last week after his bill moved off the Assembly floor to be considered by the state Senate. “Passage of AB 406 puts student success ahead of corporate profits and affirms California’s belief that public tax dollars should be spent in the classroom, not in the corporate boardroom.”
But parents of students getting all of their instruction online say eliminating for-profit providers would also limit the options for many families whose children just don’t fit well into traditional schools.
“While traditional schools may be a great environment for most, some children simply need another option,” Nicole Conragan, president of the California Parents for Public Virtual Education, said in a letter to McCarty last month. “For those who do, parents should have access to a quality, public virtual or blended learning education for their children.
“If online charter schools are forced to close based upon Assembly Bill 406 criteria, where will these students go to school and how will individual school districts address their unique learning needs?” Conragan asked in closing.
Online education takes place in almost every school district and almost every day—but most of that is considered blended learning where the students and the teacher are in a traditional classroom and simply using computers for specific lessons.
Virtual learning is generally considered to take place via the web, where the student and the teacher don’t share either the same time space or physical location.
Among the types of students that choose virtual schooling are high-achievers who want to work ahead, or those also engaged in some outside activity that conflicts with regular school hours. Top performing athletes, for instance, training for the Olympics; or child actors or professional musicians.
That said, the online system has also emerged as a ‘last option’ for troubled teens that have been unable to succeed in the mainstream system. It is one reason that virtual schools are generally among the lowest-performing in the state.
Most of the virtual schools in California are charters, authorized by a local school district and funded Plan to outlaw for-profit charters hits online ed too :: SI&A Cabinet Report :: The Essential Resource for Superintendents and the Cabinet:
