Editorial Roundup
Newspapers around the state are calling WEAC’s and Gov. Doyle’s plan to lock out public virtual school students wrong.


Sheboygan Press
Doyle, WEAC wrong to try to scuttle virtual schools compromise
February 26, 2008
When is a compromise not a compromise? When the state teacher's union says so.
Wisconsin lawmakers thought they'd come up with a way a couple of weeks ago to keep the popular virtual schools operating while requiring Internet-based education to have greater teacher involvement and be more accountable to standards. Republicans and Democrats crafted the compromise after lawmakers from each party introduced proposals that were diametrically opposed to each other and would have solved nothing.
The compromise was needed because last December the Court of Appeals ruled that the 12 virtual schools — including Northern Ozaukee School District's Wisconsin Virtual Academy — were operating outside of the state law on charter schools, mainly because the schools lacked oversight and curriculum planning by licensed teachers. The suit that resulted in this decision was filed by the Wisconsin Education Association Council, which represents teachers.
While neither side got everything they wanted in the compromise, the plan saved virtual schools — to the overwhelming delight of the parents of the 3,500 students enrolled in them.
Just when it looked as if this deal were about to be passed, Gov. Jim Doyle tossed in a very real monkey wrench. Taking WEAC's side in this fight, Doyle now wants enrollment in virtual schools capped at the current 3,500 students while the Legislative Audit Bureau does a three-year study of how effective virtual schools are in meeting student needs.
While the enrollment cap doesn't kill virtual schools, it puts the status of the compromise in jeopardy since the Assembly bill doesn't contain the cap and Doyle said he would veto any measure that doesn't cap enrollments. Not only does this 11th-hour switch set legislative negotiation and compromise back significantly in Wisconsin, it also leaves virtual education in limbo. Without a compromise plan, the Court of Appeals ruling will shut down all virtual schools in Wisconsin.
That would be a huge blow to the 3,500 students already enrolled and the hundreds more who are considering moving from regular schools to online learning.
We don't know what three more years of study will show beyond what test scores for these students already show: Many who struggled in regular schools are thriving in virtual education.
The deal that lawmakers thought they had covered the teacher/instruction issues raised in the court decision and provided for closer scrutiny of the quality of education provided in virtual schools.
It was a serviceable solution and should have been adopted.
http://www.sheboygan-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080226/SHE06/802260411/1109/SHEopinion
 
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The Waukesha Freeman
Laurels and Darts
 
February 23, 2008
By:  The Freeman Editorial Board

DART.  To Gov. Jim Doyle. A rare deal between Democrats and Republicans in the state Legislature to keep state virtual schools afloat was torpedoed by Doyle this week. The governor threatened to veto the plan unless it included some last-minute changes which included an enrollment cap. What a shame. It seems the governor cares more about his loyalties to the teachers union than he does about Wisconsin students eager to learn in an alternative format.

Rose Fernandez, president of the Wisconsin Coalition of Virtual School Families, blasted the last-minute gamesmanship.

"What a circus ... they went back on their word," she said. "The amendment is disgraceful."

We agree.
http://www.freemanol.com/editorials/misc_editorials.htm

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Wisconsin State Journal
ON., FEB 25, 2008 - 4:42 PM
Study but don't cap online schools
A Wisconsin State Journal editorial

An audit to help gauge how virtual schools are performing in Wisconsin is reasonable.

But slapping a cap on how many children can enroll in online schools is unnecessary and potentially harmful.

Gov. Jim Doyle 's last-minute demand for a cap threatens to ruin a solid bipartisan deal to keep these interesting schools going.

The governor should drop his veto threat, and the Legislature should give Doyle and the teachers union the audit they want.

That way, a dozen virtual schools in Wisconsin serving 3,500 students can stay open and expand if more parents choose to enroll their children.

Key state lawmakers recently put together compromise legislation to keep virtual schools going after a court ruling threatened to shut them down. A court ruled in December that the Wisconsin Virtual Academy, based in suburban Milwaukee, violates state laws controlling teacher certification, charter schools and open enrollment.

The fault lies not in the Wisconsin Virtual Academy, whose students score at or above the state average in most subjects at nearly every grade level. The real problem is that state laws never anticipated students learning over the Internet from home.

The court decision prompted quick action by leaders in both houses of the state Legislature. Rep. Brett Davis, R-Oregon, and Sen. John Lehman, D-Racine, helped negotiate a legislative fix with input and support from state Superintendent of Schools Elizabeth Burmaster.

Their bipartisan proposal would keep online schools going with more accountability. Primary instructors would have to be certified teachers with training tailored to online teaching techniques. Only certified teachers could develop lesson plans and grade assignments.

The Davis and Lehman plan also would require online teachers to respond to inquiries from parents and students within 24 hours during the work week. And online schools would need to track absences and offer a set number of hours of instruction.

The speed and thoughtfulness of the bipartisan compromise was impressive.

But the whole package is now in jeopardy -- along with the education of thousands of children next year -- because the governor and the teachers union want to limit enrollment.

An arbitrary cap should not be the priority. Let an audit help determine the performance of online schools. And in the meantime, let more parents choose the online option if they believe it works best for their children.

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MJS Editorial: A failed compromise
The  state Senate scuttled a compromise that would have kept Wisconsin's online schools alive and instead imposed an unnecessary cap on enrollment.
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=720762
From the Journal Sentinel
Posted: Feb. 21, 2008

There is still time to save Wisconsin's virtual schools, but the clock is ticking after a state Senate vote this week that unwisely capped enrollment and blew up a bipartisan compromise.


In a letter to legislators on the eve of the vote, Gov. Jim Doyle called for a cap on enrollment and recommended a study to determine how well virtual schools were serving students and what their fiscal impact was on existing public schools and property taxes.

The request for a study is sensible enough, but the cap is a solution looking for a problem. And now, despite exceptions for siblings of existing students and for students who signed up during the current open enrollment period, some children may be denied the opportunity to learn in an environment that is best suited to their needs.

Legislation was needed after a state Court of Appeals ruled in December that the Wisconsin Virtual Academy, operated by the Northern Ozaukee School District, was not eligible for state aid. That ruling threatened the existence of all 12 online schools in the state, which serve more than 3,000 students.

The compromise plan was a good one that balanced the need to legalize virtual schools while imposing new standards on them. It had the support of the state Department of Public Instruction.

The Senate vote sends the measure back to the Assembly, where Rep. Brett Davis (R-Oregon) said Thursday he would draft new legislation that includes a financial audit but not a cap. He also planned to send a letter to Doyle inviting the governor or his staff to a hearing on Monday to explain why a cap is necessary.

"In eight and a half hours of testimony the last time, no one brought up a cap," Davis said. "Even the teachers union came and testified." Time is running out on Davis, because the Assembly has only a few more days of work scheduled before it adjourns next month.

Mary Bell, president of the Wisconsin Education Association Council, the state's largest teachers union, noted correctly that the financial impact of virtual schools on existing public schools isn't well known. She argues that because the virtual schools may be attracting new students into the public system - students who were home-schooled, for example - state aid is being divvied up among more students. A cap is needed until the effects can be determined, she argues.

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Beloit Daily News
http://www.beloitdailynews.com/articles/2008/02/25/editorials/edit02.txt

EDITORIAL: Special interest wins, people lose

Innovation should be encouraged, not stifled.

NO ONE IS surprised those connected to public schools in Wisconsin (or anywhere else) lack warm feelings for innovations that could compete with them for dollars.

Virtual schools, for example.

A compromise bill intended to shore up the financial foundations of online schools was undermined by the Wisconsin Senate, which attached a last-minute requirement to cap enrollment. The change was pushed by Gov. Jim Doyle and the Wisconsin Education Association Council, the powerful state teachers' union which tends to lead Democrats around on a leash.

THIS IS THE SORT of unnecessary impediment the bureaucracy imposes to stifle innovation and competition. And that, in turn, locks the status quo in place, whether citizens are satisfied or not.

The argument for caps revolves around how virtual schools might grow and how that may impact finances for traditional public schools. If tax dollars that otherwise would go to public schools are siphoned off to virtual schools, opponents apparently believe, then this baby needs to be strangled in its crib.

It's another chapter in an old story, about how the education establishment opposes competitive choices for parents and students. The implication is clear: It's not about providing the best education for kids. It's about keeping the money and the jobs.

Maybe that's understandable, from the teachers.

But the governor and senators ought to see a bigger picture.

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