Idaho Goes Back to School

We hope everyone has had a great start to the new school year. Our coalition is excited about this year and will continue to be a source of information for those who believe in choice in public education. We’ll regularly share information about public charter schools in the state, to help equip you with everything you need to be great advocates for your children and their public schools. As always, please share our alerts with your friends and family members and encourage them to sign up to receive information directly from us.   And, we’re always looking for family testimonials about their positive experiences with charter schools, including virtual schools. Send them to us at info@idchartercoalition.org.  When you send your story, be sure to include a note about whether you agree to allow us to post the information on our web site or include in any publications.

News Update

We’ll often share with you news and information about charter schools in Idaho. As always, if you have content you’d like us to consider sharing, send it to info@idchartercoalition.org.

Below are three recent news items. The first is an article from the Lewiston Morning Tribune about a new public virtual school that recently opened in Idaho.  In it, you’ll read some of the common concerns raised about public virtual schools in the state.

Here are a few points you could raise to defend your choice in education:

-- Virtual schools are PUBLIC schools that are financially and academically accountable to the taxpayers of Idaho and the families and children they serve.
-- If a virtual school doesn’t work, it can close. Period.
-- Public virtual schools aren’t for everyone, but there are a GREAT choice for many students for whom a traditional public school just wasn’t working. In fact, public virtual schools enroll many kids whose traditional public school failed them.  They come to online schools below grade level, and therefore cannot be judged based solely on test scores
-- Public virtual schools already receive far less funding than traditional schools, yet strident opponents of parental choice want to take even more money away from these public schools.
-- Idaho parents are demanding more choices and the state is responding.  How wonderful that our state’s education system is finally responding to the needs of parents and children!
 
Congratulations to the students, families and staff of iSucceed, and good luck this year.

The second is a piece from Fox Business News about popularity of online learning throughout the United States, including Idaho.

And the final piece is from The  Idaho Statesman. This story highlights the continuing challenges of facilities funding for Idaho’s public charter schools and the efforts to expand to accommodate more children whose parents are desperately seeking school choice options.  Still, more than 6,000 students are on charter school waiting lists throughout the state.

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Lewiston Morning Tribune

Subscription Required (http://www.lmtribune.com)
September 1, 2008

School's in session at iSucceed :Another Idaho virtual school starts its first semester
By Brandon Macz

Students across Idaho are a click away from the start of their first year of iSucceed, a new virtual high school that will allow them to earn a diploma as fast as their ambitions and browsers allow.

The Idaho Public Charter School Commission approved iSucceed in 2007, and its first semester begins Tuesday.

Tamara Baysinger, program manager for the Idaho Public Charter School Commission, said virtual schools have become an increasing trend, with iSucceed being the fifth virtual school in Idaho that receives funding through the Idaho State Department of Education.

Michigan and New Mexico already require students to participate in a form of online learning. Michigan adopted this requirement into its curriculum in 2006.

"There is still interest in having more virtual schools in Idaho," Baysinger said. "It is very beneficial for some families."

Donna Hutchison is the chief executive officer for the Idaho Digital Learning Academy. The state-funded virtual school created in 2002 by the Idaho Legislature has seen enrollment increase from 700 students its first year to 6,600 students last year.

Unlike iSucceed, which is a full-time online school, IDLA can be used to pick up extra credits or classes that may not be available in certain school districts, Hutchison said.

Not everyone, however, believes virtual charter schools offer a better education.

Sen. Gary Schroeder, R-Moscow, said while he had supported and helped start charter schools in Idaho, he feels additional legislation in the past has relaxed "safeguards," which is causing virtual schools to fail their adequate yearly progress assessments.

He also said an office performance evaluation through the Legislature showed 40 percent of funds allocated to charter schools were not being invested into the students, while the schools continue to make more money sending their bills to the Idaho State Department of Education.

"Virtuals get transportation costs. They don't transport any kids," he said. "Why? Because lobbyists are able to get them to give it away at the Legislature. My concern for charter schools is they don't seem to follow the law."

Schroeder said he understands that some nontraditional students will benefit from virtual schools, which "is good for some kids, but not all kids."

Laurinda O'Dell, of Coeur d'Alene, said she has enrolled her children, April, 15, and Taylor, 17, in iSucceed and is happy to escape the traditional high school environment...

Read complete article online.

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Online K-12 Schools Grow in Popularity

Donna Fuscaldo
FOXBusiness
Wednesday, September 3, 2008

For Briana LeClaire, a mother of three in Meridian, Idaho, it was a no-brainer to enroll her two school-aged children in Idaho Virtual Academy, a Kindergarten through 12th grade Internet school that has more than 2,000 students.
The 38-year old liberal-arts graduate wanted her children to learn history based on Greek mythology and the Bible, and not from a social studies approach, which is the norm in most public schools.

“You can’t really resonate with paintings without knowing the stories from the Bible and the stories from Greek mythology,” said LeClaire, whose first-grade son and seventh-grade daughter are enrolled in the online school. “Until my brick-and-mortar school starts offering history and a literary curriculum, I’ll stick with what’s working.”

LeClaire is just one of the thousands of parents across the country who are choosing to enroll their children in virtual schools. Whether its home schoolers, child actors, elite athletes or children who are advanced or need more help, Internet schools for K-12 are growing. While online education used to be the domain of colleges and universities, that’s no longer the case. Proponents of the virtual schools say children not only are able to get a richer education but the flexibility online schools offer, make it the most viable choice in some cases.

“Up until eight years ago, unless you had affluence, the only place your family could get an education was at the local elementary school down the street,” said Ron Packard, founder and Chief Executive of K12 (LRN) : 24.17, -0.19, -0.77%), the Herndon, Va., provider of K-12 online curriculums. “What happens if that education doesn’t work? The child has no choice.”

With public virtual schools, anyone in the state has an education choice. Online public schools and charter schools offer the education for free with the school providing the necessary equipment including computers and in many cases broadband Internet access. Many times the teachers are located in regions near the students and communication is conducted via video conference, telephone and in person.

Currently K12’s curriculum is used for 40,000 students in nationwide virtual schools. Packard expects that number to increase by a double-digit rate annually. He said the increase will be driven largely by awareness, as the stigma of an online education continues to dissipate. After all, public online schools are much different than home schooling, where the parents aren’t required to follow state mandates. Public online schools are required by the state to take the same tests as the brick and mortar schools, and students have to be taught by certified public teachers, said Packard….

Read more.

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Idaho Statesman
Boise's first charter school hopes to buy Franklin Elementary
Defunct school would give Anser room to grow. Neighbors wanta city park on the land.

Stripped of its portable buildings and emptied of its students, faculty and furnishings, Franklin Elementary School is a forlorn place these days.

Franklin was shuttered in June, and the Boise School District is preparing to sell the 100-year-old former high school to the highest bidder.

Children still play on the playground in the evenings, and the grass is green, but trash is starting to drift into the stairwells, and neighbors report drug users visit the darkened building at night.

But Franklin's neighbors have hopes for the big stucco building, which sits behind mature trees at the intersection of Franklin Road and Orchard Street.

They're trying to help Anser Charter School acquire the building so Anser can move out of its cramped quarters near Downtown Boise and nearly double the size of its student body. They want the city to acquire the land for a park.

Neighbors say their plan would keep the grassy eight-acre lot open for neighborhood children and stop a developer from tearing down the school and replacing it with a chain store or low-income housing.

Single mother Sarah Cunningham, who moved to her house near Franklin last year, is petitioning the city to buy the land for a park.

"I've made it a mission," said Cunningham, who has an 11-year-old son at Longfellow Elementary School. "I want to unify the neighborhood and get to know my neighbors and get the neighbors to know each other, and with the school going up for sale, I want to do what I can to preserve the green space."

Read more