The Denver Post

Re: "Panel: Bolster online schools," March 9 news story.

Can the State Board of Education's task force on "virtual" schools be serious? I was appalled to hear of the misuses of taxpayer dollars . I thought surely the legislature would read the report and shut off the spigot. But the task force believes the answer is to expand the program?

There aren't enough monitoring systems in the world to cover all the different ways to circumvent this scam, nor do I believe that any "virtual" education justifies the same kind of per-pupil expenditure as a real, live, quality public school.

Committee members complained that the low level of funding creates no incentives for school districts to create online programs. Let's get real. Smaller class sizes, with better access to quality professional development for teachers - together with higher salaries - and high and consistent standards for students, teachers and schools are the only education reforms proven by research. Everything else is just playing politics.

Michael Pons, Lakewood

http://www.denverpost.com/headlines/ci_5427296

Rocky Mountain News

Report: Clarify Web school rules

By Berny Morson, Rocky Mountain News
March 9, 2007

A report released Thursday recommends that the Colorado Board of Education clarify rules for online schools, including the Hope Co-op Online Learning Academy.

Hope, which is chartered by a school district in southeast Colorado, operates 79 learning centers around the state. Some local school boards think they should control learning centers in their jurisdictions.

Students at the learning centers study from an online curriculum. They are under the supervision of adults but not state-licensed teachers.

The report issued Thursday was prepared by a 17-member advisory panel. It is less specific about how to deal with the learning centers than a bill introduced in the Senate this week. SB 215 by Sen. Sue Windels, D-Arvada, would require the centers to sign operating agreements with the local school boards.

The state board will discuss the report next month, Chairwoman Pamela Jo Suckla said.

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/education/article/0,1299,DRMN_957_5405870,00.html

Denver Post

Panel: Bolster online schools

By Karen Rouse
Denver Post Staff Writer

03/09/2007

Colorado should boost spending for virtual-school students and encourage districts to serve more kids online, a state Board of Education task force recommended Thursday.

The 32-page report also said the state should allow any student to attend an online school, regardless of the type of school they attended before enrolling in an Internet-based program.

Current state law allows students to enroll in a public online school only if they attended a public school the prior year.

"If you're in a home school or private school, you actually have to go to a public school first," said Jared Polis, a former state board member who, along with State Sen. Nancy Spence, co-chaired the online-education task force.

"Our committee felt all students should be able to enroll," he said.

The committee was formed following a scathing state auditor's report released last year. The auditor found there was little state oversight over the quality of online schools or how funds for online schools had been spent.

The committee emphasized its support for online schools as an innovative approach to learning but called for greater accountability.

Its list of 10 recommendations included boosting the per-pupil funding for online students. Traditional brick-and-mortar schools get per-pupil funding that ranges from $5,865 per student to more than $13,000 per child, based on a variety of factors such as poverty and the cost of living.

Online schools receive a flat rate of $5,865 per student.

Committee members said the low level of funding creates no incentive for school districts, which receive the per-pupil money, to create online programs.

The report also said the Board of Education should encourage school districts with online schools to partner with those that don't offer online options to allow funding to be negotiated between districts.

http://www.denverpost.com/headlines/ci_5390528

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