Virtual school regulation questioned

BOSTON (State House News Service) - One prominent state lawmaker on Tuesday ripped the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education for placing “arbitrary” restrictions on the expansion of virtual public schools in Massachusetts, questioning why student options were being limited.

Rep. Martha Walz, the former chair of the Committee on Education and an author of the 2010 education reform law, harshly criticized the board that voted recently to deny Greenfield’s application to expand its virtual school to include grades 9-12, and a similar application from Hadley to start its own virtual middle and high school.

Both districts were seeking a waiver from state regulations requiring that 25 percent of students enrolled in a virtual school reside in the district.

“What the board is trying to do is keep us in the dark ages,” Walz told the News Service after testifying before the Committee on Education on behalf of two bills she has filed to expand access to virtual schools.

Over 200,000 students attend virtual public schools across the country in 25 states and District of Columbia, according to the National Coalition for Public School Options. Supporters argued that with just one operational virtual school, Massachusetts is falling behind a growing trend toward making full-time online learning available to students who cannot attend traditional public schools.

Virtual schools, according to supporters, offer students another alternative to traditional public schools for students who might be unchallenged by traditional curriculums, learn at a different pace, or can’t attend regular school because of a medical condition, expulsion, or incarceration.

One Walz bill (H 1960) would restrict the BESE from setting any type of cap or limitations on student enrollment in public virtual schools, building on what the state has learned relative to funding, enforcement of student attendance and other issues with online learning.

The second bill (H 1090) would create an opening for virtual charter schools to be operated similarly to the brick-and-mortar Commonwealth Charter schools currently sanctioned by the state through an application and approval process at the BESE.

“I see no reason why school districts should be precluded from operating their own virtual schools and give these students and families a choice,” Walz said. “These are arbitrary limits on the number of students who can benefit from this type of education.”

Following the passage of the reform law sanctioning in-district virtual schools a part of an Innovation School initiative, the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education put in place regulations capping student enrollment in virtual schools at 500, requiring that 25 percent of enrolled students live in the host district, and limiting the number of students from outside districts to 2 percent of the sending district’s school population.

Education Commissioner Mitchell Chester, who recommended denying the Greenfield and Hadley waiver requests, told lawmakers Tuesday that virtual schools should be taken out of the Innovation School statute and treated as charter schools.

“It’s really to provide a more deliberate state role for quality assurance and consumer protection,” Chester told the News Service, noting that virtual schools run by local school boards have the ability to attract students from all over the Commonwealth without state oversight.

Chester said all states that allow virtual schools feature state oversight of those schools, whether it be over the operation of the school or through an initial approval process.

“This is not about trying to block the creation of virtual schools,” Chester said.

The Massachusetts Virtual Academy, in Greenfield, was initially set up with a waiver from the 25 percent in-district enrollment requirement, reducing that threshold to 2 percent.

“This is the first year in a really long time I been really successful in school. It combines the best elements of home schooling with a classroom setting,” said Ian Weber, a 12-year-old from Monson who enrolled in the Greenfield school and completed his coursework to graduate from 8th grade two-years early.

Weber’s parents, Elisabeth and Mark Weber, said Ian had been diagnosed as “profoundly gifted,” putting him well ahead of his peers academically, but that he also contends with attention deficit hyperactive disorder that makes learning in a traditional classroom challenging.

“It was not our first choice to home school him and when the Virtual Academy opened it was a godsend. It’s the best thing that happened to us as a family,” said Elisabeth Weber, who plans to enroll her other three children as well.

By not allowing Greenfield to expand its offerings to high school, however, the Weber’s said they have little option but to resume homeschooling Ian because they feel he is too young to enter a public high school.

About 40 families with eighth graders graduating from the Massachusetts Virtual Academy this year face similar decisions.

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