BY SARAH ROSS

SALEM- In a Monday morning vote, the House voted to pass a bill which will further restrict virtual schools, as well allow for waivers to keep some of the schools from closing.

The bill, HB 3660, was a result of work done over the year’s interim hearings in the Online Learning Task Force. It was brought to the legislature through the House Education Committee by Rep. Sara Gelser, D-Corvallis. It passed the committee with dissent from all but one Republican and support from all committee Democrats. Further, it passed the Joint Ways and Means committee last week with similar vote breakdowns.

“I think that it confirms Oregon’s commitment to having a variety of educational options available to students and confirms Oregon’s commitment to giving children, each child, the access to the learning tools and the learning opportunities that are most appropriate for them to succeed,” said Gelser.

Specifically, the legislation will impose restrictions on the budget and accounting process, tracking student progress, administrator and teacher qualifications, student and school records, and notification of enrollment and withdrawal. Additionally, it tasks the State Board of Education with developing a governance model for online learning to be presented to the legislature in the fall.

Apart from the study and restrictions created through the bill, it does allow for the Oregon Virtual Academy to maintain those students received this year and allow for the State Board of Education to pass waivers for those schools restricted in last years’ legislation, which closed admittance to these virtual charter schools.

Rep. Kim Thatcher, R-Keizer, who is also the mother of a virtual school student, spoke out against the bill, saying it sends the wrong message at the wrong time. “We need to look at allowing these schools to flourish with fewer restrictions, not more,” Thatcher said.

The bill will be sent to the Senate next for further consideration.

BY SARAH ROSS

SALEM- Greater restrictions on Oregon’s virtual schools will now be presented to the Legislature in February.

In the final meeting of Oregon’s Online Learning Task Force, the Task Force voted to approve its Legislative Concept 15, which will be introduced before the House Education Committee in February’s Interim Session.

Despite concerns with the bill from both sides, the Task Force’s limited timeline pushed the bill to be passed, rather than for no bill at all to come from the group.

Objections to approval of the bill came from Rep. John Huffman (R-The Dalles) and Oregon Virtual Academy board member Mark Horning. Combined with this dissent, the Legislative members of the Task Force who supported the bill’s proposal in February made clear that a “yes” vote on the Task Force does not mean a “yes” vote in the Legislature.

Concerns came from both sides of the aisle regarding requiring school administrators to be licensed by the state, “too weak” language (not requiring specific things but simply requiring a plan), equity of the programs not being adequately addressed, and forcing disclosure of the schools’ business plans, among other things.

In an effort to allay public concerns, Rep. Sara Gelser (D-Corvallis) said, “There is nothing in this draft that closes ORCA or ORVA or any other virtual school option for students at all.”

This bill, however, does not lift the enrollment caps and the 50-50 requirement that were put into place in the last legislative session to limit these online learning programs. These requirements cap further enrollment of students and mandate that 50% of students enrolled in the schools must reside in the charter school’s sponsoring school district.

In addition to the recommendations from the Task Force, the future of online charter schools will be sent back to the State Board of Education in order to finish those recommendations which the Task Force could not address adequately in their meetings.

Brad Lynn, who represented the “brick and mortar” charter schools on the Task Force, said, “As we empower the State Board of Education to review and develop a new governance model for virtual schools, [I hope] that we encourage them to preserve parental choice in enrolling students in these online school options.”

These mothers and fathers weep and beg for consideration of virtual learning at the Online Learning Task Force in November but politicians continued to negotiate for restrictions for online education in LC 15 scheduled to meet the Oregon Legislature this February.

BY SARAH ROSS

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BY SARAH ROSS

SALEM- The Oregon Legislature is pursuing its quest to expand restrictions on virtual charter schools throughout the state.

To kick off the first day of November’s Interim Committee Hearings for the State Legislature, Online Learning Task Force co-chairs Rep. Sara Gelser (D-Corvallis) and Sen. Richard Devlin (D-Tualatin) received testimony on a draft bill set to go to the Interim Legislative Session this February. The bill, LC 15, calls for numerous restrictions and requirements on virtual public charter schools.

These restrictions include employment of only faculty and staff members licensed by Teacher Standards and Practices Commission, prohibition of State Board of Education waivers for specific requirements for these schools, increasing student enrollment only if granted a waiver by the state Board of Education, and a clause to determine whether or not laws required for public charter schools should be applied to virtual public charter schools.

The draft drew criticism from some members of the Task Force, members of the State Board of Education and numerous members of the public who came to testify at the public hearing.

“I think Legislative Concept 15 as it’s currently written would create a pretty significant workload issue for the State Board of Education and the department of Education,” stated Morgan Allen, Legislative Director for the Oregon Department of Education.

He pointed out that this additional workload would be fine if the Legislature could compensate the Department with greater financial resources to provide more staff and materials to carry out this proposed legislation.

As a parent of multiple online learning students, Mark Scarborough told the Task Force, “The flexibility of virtual schooling is really key.”