The Future of Oregon’s Virtual Public Schools
By Emily Puro
Two bills are being considered in the 2009 Oregon State Legislature that would significantly limit access to online education in the state. Currently, state law requires at least 50 percent of the students enrolled in a charter school offering online courses to be residents of the district that sponsors the charter, unless the school applies for and is granted a waiver.
The two largest online schools in the state – the Oregon Virtual Academy (ORVA), which operates out of the North Bend School District, and the Oregon Connections Academy (ORCA), operating out of the Scio School District – currently are not bound by that rule. (ORVA applied for and was granted a waiver through the 2009-2010 school year; ORCA was granted its charter before the rule went into effect and is considered “grandfathered in” until its charter expires at the end of the 2009-1010 school year.)
SB 767 would take away the state’s ability to waive the 50 percent rule, effectively closing ORVA and ORCA. (ORCA, with about 2,800 students, and ORVA, with 270, both enroll only a handful of students from their sponsoring districts.) The bill also would limit access to online schools for students in kindergarten through sixth grade.
SB 881 would reduce the amount of money a charter school receives for out of district students from at least 80 percent of the state’s per student allotment to 40 percent, again effectively closing virtual schools operating with a large percentage of out-of-district students.
Arguments in support of these bills rely heavily on two points: (1) that state money allotted for education should not be sent out of state, to the parent corporations providing curriculum and administrative support to both ORVA and ORCA, for example; and (2) students in kindergarten through sixth grade should not be spending a large part of their school day in front of a computer.
Arguments in opposition reply: (1) most of the curriculum materials used in traditional public schools is developed by and purchased from corporations outside of Oregon; the ORVA and ORCA models are comparable; and (2) K-6 students in virtual schools typically spend no more than 30 percent of their time in front of a computer; the rest of the time they’re reading books, working with manipulatives, performing science experiments, creating art and even participating in physical activities; time spent sitting in front of a computer is often less than the time spent sitting at a desk in a traditional classroom.
At press time, the bills were still under consideration by the Oregon State Legislature.
Emily Puro is a Portland freelance writer and mom.
June 12th, 2010 | Category: Special Online Learning
