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| Twin Falls Times News: Online charter schools are growing, while state drops oversight suggestions |
April 6, 2008
Twin Falls Times News
Virtually independent
Online charter schools are growing, while state drops oversight suggestions
By Andrea Jackson
Staff writer
April 6, 2008
Idaho state officials are sending millions of dollars to operators of new Internet-based charter schools, but aren't checking how the money is spent, the Times-News has learned.
Four online charter schools serving about 1 percent of the state's public school students received about $10.8 million in public money for the 2007-08 school year.
But the schools combined spent only about 58 percent of the money on administration, instruction and related expenses, according to records from the State Department of Education.
Unlike other schools, virtual charter schools are allowed to keep what they don't spend, which totaled about $4.58 million - and the State Department of Education isn't following the money trail.
"The state does not track how schools spend the funding if they choose not to spend it on staff," state Department of Education Spokeswoman Melissa McGrath told the Times-News.
As the number of online charter schools in Idaho expands to five this fall, questions about their financial and academic effectiveness posed by the Office of Performance Evaluations have yet to be addressed by the Legislature.
That's unfortunate, according to at least one member of the Joint Legislative Oversight Committee, which oversees the Office of Performance Evaluations.
"I would love to see a more in-depth review done of virtual schools," said Sen. Elliot Werk, D-Boise. "It's very apparent virtual schools have a place in the system and provide a valuable service. On the other hand, there are key questions about the use of public money in virtual school settings and how that money is utilized."
At the heart of this concern is the role of for-profit companies that contract with non-profit charter schools nourished by public money.
"If we are expending public funds for virtual education in Idaho, we should have a very good handle on where that money goes," Werk said.
Studies on the backburner
The Office of Performance of Evaluations, a non-partisan research service for the Legislature, has twice examined state-supported virtual schools.
In March, 2007, the office recommended that lawmakers "conduct a more in-depth review of virtual school funding and expenditures."
That review was never done.
Werk said JLOC last fall split along partisan lines about whether to purse the issue.
All eight-members of JLOC, including Rep. Maxine Bell , R-Jerome, were asked by e-mail why they didn't follow the 2007 recommendation for more oversight. Only Werk and Sen. Shawn Keough, R-Sandpoint, responded.
Last month, the office issued a follow-up report showing that only three out of eight recommendations made to the Legislature concerning public virtual schools were implemented.
"During the 2008 Legislative session, the Legislature passed a bill to update the definition of a virtual school," according to the follow-up report. The State Board of Education and the Idaho Public Charter School Commission also made some progress in strengthening oversight, that report shows.
But a recommended study to determine the cost-effectiveness of virtual schools never took off.
Keough, a JLOC co-chair, said in an e-mail that other issues "took precedence."
"The virtual schools issue has been studied several times by JLOC and the Legislature and the pressing issues of health care and the underinsured and uninsured took precedence at that point in time," Keough said. "At this last meeting JLOC decided to begin basic evaluation of the K-12 public school formula which has not been looked at since it was established in the mid-'90s and the (Idaho Transportation Department) evaluation assigned by the Legislature."
The Idaho Public Charter School Commission could choose to look into virtual charter school issues, said Keough.
Costly online choices?
Four virtual charter schools are currently a mouse click away for students in Idaho. All are registered non-profit corporations: Inspire Virtual Charter School, Idaho Distance Education Academy, Idaho Virtual High School - also known as Richard McKenna Charter High School and Idaho Virtual Academy. A fifth virtual charter school, iSucceed based in Boise, goes online this fall.
These charter schools serve students who want to learn on their own time, wherever they want. Some are aimed at home-school student; others, like iSucceed, offer bilingual amenities for Latinos.
Unlike traditional public schools, the virtual schools have more discretion in how they spend public funds because they are not subject to "use it or lose it" education funding policies, McGrath said.
The state's largest virtual charter school, Idaho Virtual Academy - with 2,366 students enrolled in the fall - also got the most from the state for administration, instructional and non-certified staff, about $5.8 million. According to the Idaho State Department of Education, the school spent about $2.3 million of this public money and can use the rest at its discretion.
Public money is being handled appropriately, said the Cody Claver, the head of the school.
"We work extra hard to make sure we do things correctly and according to state law," he said. "We have a clean audit â€- The money we're given we spend it according to our budget and we spend it wisely."
The use it or lose policies for charter schools shouldn't change, said Claver. He said that traditional public schools also spend public money on for-profit companies that may be based out of state, on things such as bussing and textbooks.
"Compare everything. Don't just look at virtual schools under the microscope," Claver said.
The Idaho Virtual Academy contracts with a for-profit company called K*12, which operates in 23 states including Idaho.
A smaller virtual charter school, Richard McKenna, with 403 students, almost broke even with the spending the state funding for administration, instructional and non-certified staff, with the exception of about $5,137 surplus.
The Legislature weaved charter schools into law in 1998 for the purpose of providing "innovative and expanded learning opportunities for students in Idaho public schools," according to that legislation.
There's almost four times more students in online charter schools today then there were in the 2002-2003 school year, according to fall enrolment numbers from the Idaho State Department of Education.
It's not immediately clear how the cost of educating a kid through online charter schools compares to a traditional brick and mortar school.
"We do not compare online charter schools to traditional schools or charter schools to traditional schools, etc., because every school is different," McGrath said in an e-mail. "For example, if you compare an online charter school to another online charter school the per (average daily attendance) spending could vary greatly."
New virtual ground
Virtual charter schools have been described as locally started and managed in Idaho, but at least some have a strong outside presence.
According to the budget for iSucceed, the school could enroll 500 students this fall, with revenues and expenses projected to balance at about $3 million.
iSucceed will use Insight Schools as a vendor for its operations. Insight Schools helps operate online, diploma-granting public high schools in seven states including Idaho, according to its Web site.
Insight is owned by Apollo Group Inc., a publicly traded company that includes the online University of Phoenix and Axia College. It reported $2.25 billion in net revenue in 2005.
And iSucceed is seeking to establish dual-credit options for students in connection with Axia, said iSucceed Director Cliff Green. Dual credit options are also available for students at traditional public schools like Twin Falls High School through the College of Southern Idaho, also a public school.
Green said even with four other virtual charter schools in Idaho, there is still a special niche for iSucceed.
"Online learning is not for everybody, the student has to be motivated and organized and disciplined to sit down and log in and do lessons," he said.
iSucceed was born after a group of citizens got together and decided to start a virtual charter school that focuses on underserved students particularly in the Latino community, he said. Half of the initial six directors for the school have Idaho addresses, the others list addresses in Arizona, according the iSucceed articles of incorporation.
Students can learn online
Standing near a student taking an online Spanish class through the Idaho Digital Learning Academy, Valley High School Principal Rod Malone said he thinks online learning will be a big influence in the future.
"The main thing is it opens up the opportunity for students to take classes we can't offer here," said Malone. "It helps teach them to be more self-motivated and self-directed."
The IDLA is a public extension of Idaho school districts, so students who take a class online through it are still part of their home school. The school is funded through a line item in the public schools budget, McGrath said, but it still costs students money to take classes.
Valley High School senior Mike Dehoney said he's paying about $50 to take an IDLA Spanish class online.
"It's kind of different. It's kind of like teaching yourself a little more," he said. "You have to be more independent. You don't have the teacher right there to ask immediate questions."
Schools that exist only online may not be the best way to educate kids, said Malone. "They'd be missing out on getting personal associations with teachers and other kids."
But "virtual socialization" will be a part of iSucceed through voice-over Internet class interaction, instant messaging, and even face-to-face regional get-togethers, according to the school's Web site.
An unclear track record
Of the state's four virtual charter schools only the eldest, Richard McKenna, has its graduation rate tracked by the State Department of Education. And the department doesn't track dropout rates by school, only districts. Richard McKenna is the only virtual school that the state has tracked for dropout rates, McGrath said.
It registers at 75 percent, almost 13 percent less than the state's average graduation rate.
"Richard McKenna mostly serves at-risk students through its alternative secondary program," McGrath said in an e-mail. "Schools need four years of data for us to calculate a (graduation) rate â€- The department does not track data on the average time it takes a student to graduate."
About 3,940 students enrolled this school year in the four online charter schools, according to the State Department of Education.
That's almost in line with the number of Idahoans who earned GEDs in 2007, or 3,979, according to the Idaho Division of Professional and Technical Education.
The number of credits required to graduate at online schools such as iSucceed falls within the state's requirements. At iSucceed it's 44 credits, which is the same at Magic Valley Alternative High School in Twin Falls, which serves many students who have dropped out of traditional schools.
Graduation requirements at iSucceed and Magic Valley Alternative School fall about 10 credits short of those at Twin Falls High School.
Adequate Yearly Progress for the four virtual charter schools in Idaho have not been met, and about 66 percent of schools in Idaho made AYP in 2006, according to information from the ISDE and the State Board.
Andrea Jackson may be reached at 208-735-3380 or Andrea.Jackson@lee.net.
http://www.magicvalley.com/home/about/
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| Coalition of Idaho Charter School Families PO Box 6236 | Boise, ID 83707-6236 | 877-792-5900 |
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