Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Senate OKs charter, virtual schools bills
The decision whether to approve the schools would remain with local school boards.
General Assembly 2011
Among the major issues: The state's continuing efforts to provide services with fewer dollars and Gov. McDonnell's plan to privatize liquor stores. Session ends Feb. 26.
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RICHMOND -- The Senate approved bills Tuesday that would give the state a role in the creation -- and funding -- of charter, online and virtual schools despite objections from some that doing so would raid public school funding in a time of unprecedented budget cuts.
The education overhauls were pushed by Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell, who said they would particularly benefit at-risk and disadvantaged students.
The Senate voted 27-12 to allow the state Department of Education to help charter school providers with their applications. The decision whether to approve the schools would remain with local school boards.
Senators voted 35-5 to require the state to develop policies for approving and monitoring online-education providers. A bill to establish publicly funded laboratory schools run by state universities passed on a 25-15 vote.
The House of Delegates also approved the laboratory schools bill Tuesday on a 77-20 vote. It already had passed the charter and online schools bills.
K12 Inc., a company that sells online education programs, gave Virginia lawmakers more than $57,000 this past year and then helped develop the virtual schools legislation.
Lobbyists for K12 sat in on meetings among McDonnell administration officials, legislators and representatives from education groups over the past few weeks as they hashed out a compromise to the governor's education overhaul package.
"Steps like we have taken today will bring hope to our young people, new resources to our teachers and help for our parents," McDonnell said in a statement.
It was the charter schools bill that generated the most debate, with several Democrats complaining that the schools would be able to cherry-pick students, leaving traditional public schools to educate the most vulnerable of students.
Sen. Yvonne Miller, D-Norfolk, called the proposal a "kick in the gut" during a time when the state already has cut more than a billion dollars from public school funding and is looking at trimming hundreds of millions more. She and others argued that Virginia should focus on improving public schools.
"The education of children should be a top priority for all Virginians, not just the ones who are the recipients of the luck of the draw," Miller said.
Sen. Steve Newman, R-Lynchburg and sponsor of the bills, said the overhauls would move the state forward.
"Virginia has a past that is one that we cannot be proud of on public education and we should never, never, never go back," Newman said.
Charter schools receive public funding and must meet accountability benchmarks, but can operate under less restrictive rules. There are three charter schools in Virginia. Another is set to open this summer.
The efforts to pave the way for more charter schools were in part an attempt to capture up to $350 million in federal funding through President Obama's Race to the Top stimulus funding for K-12 education. Virginia found out last week that it didn't make the cut for the first round of finalists. The state can reapply in June.
Like charter schools, virtual schools also would compete with public schools for state education dollars, because the funding follows the student. For laboratory schools, it would be up to the General Assembly to award funds to colleges and universities that participate.
Virtual schools already operate in the state, but the Virginia Board of Education has no control over them. Newman's bill would allow the state to regulate new online schools and designate preferred vendors for such operations.
K12 was the only private company invited by the governor's office to participate in working group meetings that dealt with the bill involving charter schools, laboratory schools and virtual schools.
K12's lobbyists, former state delegate Thomas Bolvin and attorney Stephen Horton, were primarily involved in discussions about virtual schools, people familiar with the meetings said.
"I wouldn't say in any way, shape or form they impeded the process," said Pat Lacy, special counsel to the Virginia School Boards Association. "As to how they came to be in the room, I can't speak to that."
Supporters of McDonnell's education overhauls have spoken extensively in recent weeks about bringing together the stakeholders on these bills, but much of the focus has been on the involvement and buy-in of the school boards association, the Virginia Education Association and the Virginia Association of School Superintendents.
All private online providers could have participated at a separate public meeting on virtual schools held on March 2, but only K12 attended.
K12 participated because it is a large, online provider based in Herndon, wrote Stacey Johnson, a spokeswoman for the governor, in an e-mail.
The company has given McDonnell's campaign and inaugural committee $40,000 since August 2009. The company contributed $17,500 this past year to the state parties and legislators who sit mostly on the education committees.
"They, as well as other stakeholders, were brought into the discussion shaping our education reform package in an effort to discuss all possible options and alternatives," Johnson said.
K12 expanded into Virginia schools last year with its first full online program in Carroll County.
Other school divisions in the state offer parts of the company's curriculum. But K12, which reported a net income of $16.7 million for the last six months of 2009, anticipates expanding.
"The interest in online education in Virginia and across the country is growing," said Jeff Kwitowski, the company's spokesman.
Kwitowski said the company's involvement in the legislation had nothing to do with its financial contributions to legislators. K12's interest in Virginia's legislation was in ensuring quality programs, he said.
