Online schools siphon area districts’ funding

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Online schools siphon area districts’ funding

By Rachel Schleif
World staff writer

Monday, February 1, 2010

ONLINE SCHOOLS

Part 2 of 3

• Coming Tuesday:

Lawmakers tighten rules for online schools

STORY LINKS

Most online schools running in the red, state report says

Local schools booting up their own online offerings

Part 1: Online option offers more flexibility — which makes it easier to go skiing

Pete Phillips is technology director at the North Central Educational Service District. Local school districts call Phillips weekly for advice on how to prepare for the growing popularity of online learning.

WENATCHEE — Competition from online schools cost North Central Washington districts nearly $830,000 last year.

For every student who transfers out to join an online school full time, about $5,000 in state education money transfers out with them.

Here’s how it works: An online teaching firm, such as Insight or Washington Virtual Academy, contracts with a school district to provide its curriculum, support and sometimes its teachers. When a student enrolls in the program, they transfer school districts.

As state funding follows the student to the new district, the online school company also gets a cut. How much depends on the contract.

Statewide, 248 districts lost more than 6,600 full-time students and more than $33 million to online schools in 2008, according to a state report released last month. Nineteen districts gained about 7,100 students, worth $35.5 million.

The 21 school districts in NCW lost about 165 full-time students, or about $828,000. Considering the size of school district budgets, the problem is just enough to raise an eyebrow. Most school districts in the region lost less than 2 percent of their students to online schools in 2008.

Smaller school districts tend to hurt most, because they have fewer students to lose. Two students transferred out of Mansfield schools in 2008, which is more than 2 percent of its 80 students. At Eastmont, about 20 of the district’s 5,482 students joined online schools, which is less than half a percent.

The enrollment war is troublesome for districts trying to plan their yearly budgets. Methow Valley School District started the year with a $60,000 deficit because 15 homeschool families unexpectedly transferred out, said Superintendent Mark Wenzel.

The school district offered its homeschool students local support and oversight from teachers, plus a $300 stipend for curriculum materials. An online provider out-bid the district with a $2,200 a year stipend. About half of Methow Valley’s homeschool population transferred out. Since then, about five or six families came back to the district because they missed the local support, Wenzel said.

The online school trend is also catching on among traditional students at the 550-student district, Wenzel said. About 30 high school students are taking online classes, from Japanese to Advanced Placement psychology.

“Where online schools are fundamentally changing the nature of public education is it opens up a whole new world of curriculum,” Wenzel said. “It’s tough to balance that with finances.”

Wenzel said the school district is hoping for a regional solution. Instead of 20 school districts competing with each other, Wenzel said he supports the idea of a regional online program.

“We’re all small school districts faced with the same issues and it makes sense for us to work together and look for a regional approach so we’re not competing with each other for those online students but working together.”

Cascade School District already lost 250 students in the last six years to Leavenworth’s expensive housing prices. Last year, online schools cost the district 17 more students — about 1.3 percent of its population — worth about $65,000 in state funding.

“I think it’s an open market, partially that’s what capitalism is about,” said Superintendent Rob Clark. “People experiment with online schools just like they do homeschooling and private schools. We have competition like we haven’t faced before.”

More students left Wenatchee schools than any other district in the area, but overall the impact isn’t much. Those 55 students who left this year for online schools represent less than a percent of the 7,700 student body. Wenatchee gained 250 students because its other programs — Valley Academy for homeschool students, WestSide High School, dual language and the arts.

“My job as a superintendent is to make sure that we’re listening to the voice of parents and students and do what we can within the school district to meet those needs,” said Wenatchee Superintendent Brian Flones. “If we can’t do it, I have no problem with people looking at other alternatives.”

Local school districts call Pete Phillips weekly for advice on how to prepare for the growing popularity of online learning. He is the technology director at the North Central Education Service District, a regional support center for districts.

“It’s definitely on the front burner for all of them as they look at all issues,” Phillips said. “The No. 1 driver is the fear factor of losing enrollment to online schools. That fear is coupled with what’s the best way to teach students while trying to satisfy parent and student requests.”

Phillips said districts have options:

• Contract with a national online company, such as K12, Insight or Advanced Academics, so students can take classes online without transferring out. Still, those outside companies take a cut, or sometimes all, of the public education money for that student.

• Create an in-house online academy, developed and taught by local teachers.

• Offer online classes through the state’s online course database, created this year by the new department of digital learning. Districts pay a per-course fee for every student.

• Create a policy that creates an approval process for students who want to transfer out to take online courses. By law, districts are required to set up some sort of policy regarding online learning by August. A state model policy was published online earlier this month at digitallearning.k12.wa.us.

The NCESD is talking about hosting a regional online school, where local students can take online classes without leaving the school district, Phillips said. He envisions local educators teaching online classes for a period or two a day from their regular classrooms.

“We’re in the very infancy of those talks,” he said. “At first blush it would be modeled after what online providers are already doing statewide, but we would try to keep that locally.”

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» 22 comments on this story

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Peggy 3 years, 3 months ago

MADGSXR: run for school board in your district, then. Be part of the solution if your opinion is that our public schools are "crap" do something about making them better.

Orphanthall 3 years, 3 months ago

Public schools are a scary place that are concerned most with keeping the number of students high (so they can get the $6,500 State money) and then teaching a mediocre education to push the kids through.

If the normal citizen could apply the same $5,000 to private school, there would be a justified exodus. It is sad that the average working family can't use this funding. Washington State residents would be better off if we abolished public schools, then gave each parent a $6,500 voucher to chose the school that is best for their child.

Gator 3 years, 3 months ago

Nathan, I agree with you, if this were an ideal world. But, other than parochial schools, the cheapest reference to private school tuition I could find was $8K a year, and the average tuition is something like $17K a year. I know that i don't have an extra $11K, even if I saved up, for my kid to go to private school.

randydutton 3 years, 3 months ago

WAVA is where my twin 17-year old boys attend online, and they LOVE it.
They have access to twice the curriculum than the local HS including 8 langugages, numerous computer gaming design courses, many AP and honors classes. No longer do they have to suffer from bullying; exposure to drugs, alcohol, wasted class time as the teacher focused on slow or unrully students, hour long bus rides, teachers who fail to teach, death threats, and a lack of books for science or other topics. We pulled them out of the local high school after the principal refused to take responsibility for his staff's actions.

We're fortunate to have both my wife (journalist) and I work at home so online school is convenient. But in 2008 I ran for the state legislature against Rep. Kessler and made implementing a blended online public education a big issue. That would revolutionize statewide education by making schools capable of having kids in online classes at school, or at home, or in traditional classrooms in 1 and up to 7 courses at a time. Note I say 7 because enthusiastic kids can handle more.

Much is missing from the article. WAVA works out of the Monroe School District, so there's one district that has gained students. Students just don't "disappear".

Also missing is (I'm told) that 30% of online students are kids that previously had dropped out. They come back if its online. Talk about an education solution to societal problems!

In 2008, over 1 million American kids were attending online public education, with a growth rate of about 30% annually. Florida is leading, and Michigan makes having at least one online class - mandatory.

And, teachers of online classes love it. They can work from home (no commute, and no dressing up), those I've talked with claim they get better one-on-one interaction with students than in traditional schools, and the students average 80 points higher on the SAT than traditional schools.

Harvard predicts that by 2019 half of all US HS students will receive part or all their education online.

randydutton 3 years, 3 months ago

Also, WAVA provides free laptop computers for students who don't have a computer. For science labs, they actually mail everything to the home, microscope, chemicals, tools, and all.

30% of all US traditional high schools don't have AP or Honors classes. Online public education is the "great equalizer". All students are treated equally and access to AP and honors classes and other excellent programs. And K12 publishes its own books.

And some of the curriculum such as math has interactive program material. Math now comes alive when you can change an input and watch visually how the output appears. Certainly geometry is more exciting.

From some articles "Some online AP students also say their grade point averages weren’t high enough to qualify for their in-school AP class offerings, but they still wanted to try the advanced work, says Birtolo of the Florida Virtual School, which offers 10 Advanced Placement courses. In the online environment, such students may feel comfortable asking as many questions as they want without worrying their peers are judging them, or they can get one-on-one tutoring from their virtual teacher. "

It's time to get ALL Washington State schools to change to a blended online program. Give parents and students choice!

randydutton 3 years, 3 months ago

There are several links from which you can get more information:

Blended Learning: The Convergence of Online and Face-to-Face Education http://www.inacol.org/research/promisingpractices/NACOL_PP-BlendedLearning-lr.pdf;

WAVA at www.k12.com;>

There are over 200 acredited colleges and universities that have online courses and degree programs - you don't have to leave home to get your degree, or at least you can get much of your degree before shelling out the big bucks for a dorm.

And even MIT offers free high school curriculum on 1000+ topics (w/o teacher) http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/web/courses/courses/index.htm

Gator 3 years, 3 months ago

Randy, Just wanted to act as a counterpoint to your glowing review. 1) Your comment about the Monroe SD gaining students does nothing to help out the other districts in WA, such as Wenatchee. So, to our district, they do "disappear". . 2) Although I agree that there are upsides to not having a social life, such as no bullying, social ability can and does become a sometimes crippling missing skill to today's students. Interpersonal interaction is on the steady decline due to online communication, and students with online educations will be hit the hardest. Some will argue that their kid does extra-curricular activities, which is great, but a child with one hour of social interaction is still going to be that much less skilled at it than a child with a full, daily public school curriculum. . 3) This one is personal - I, myself, took two online courses back in medical school, and they were easily the worst classes I could have taken. The coursework was well written, and the instructor was knowledgeable, but with just a screen to look at, and no "motivation" to pay attention, I didn't learn nearly as much as I could have from a "real live" teacher. And I was in med school - I can't imagine what these online courses must be like for a kid, whose attention span is possibly even shorter than mine - possibly :-).

randydutton 3 years, 3 months ago

One last comment. Unions generally DON'T like the loss of control online education represents.

So if you like freedom to choose, support a candidate who isn't controlled by the unions. Politicians such as Senator Murray are more likely to put roadblocks in front of online education.

randydutton 3 years, 3 months ago

Gator, Not everyone pays attention to class, even if when the teacher is staring at them, but they must pay attention to get past some of the courses' next point. Kids get bored when going too fast or too slow. With online programs you have more flexibility. You also can get more sleep, eat at home instead of vending machine food, can do house, yare, or farmwork when it is needed. You need not miss any class or day even if traveling with your family, when sick at home, or just feeling lousy. Need a nap? Take one.

Also, parents have a much better idea what you're studying and can assist at the time. Many quizes post immediate results when you click "Send". Immediate feedback is critical. We used to have to wait weeks before a math quiz was graded by the teacher, meantimes our boys would be struggling with work not knowing what concept they missed - no more.

My kids participate in discussion groups with the other students. They do get socialization. Students must be able to read and write, they have to practice every day when online, they don't when in a classroom, rather the verbalize many answers, and may be the reason kids graduate without being able to read and write at the proper level.

And any online student who wants to participate in the local school sports, and particular class, or special events, can. The school gets a prorated amount of dollars.

I've taken numerous classes online, in fact, the military prefers many of its classes be online. You can't progress through the coursework, until you get the right answer.

When I ran for the legislature, I tried to get local officials to see that online education was the paradigm shift. They should band the local districts together and form an online school around the county or region. That would maintain identity but increase efficience of scale. Each school then becomes a satellite. It's time we dispensed with the older District concept, which is heavy on administration and light on teaching responsibility.

To put this in perspective, in a poll, 96% of parents have a favorable opinion of online public education.

Hansen 3 years, 3 months ago

Randy and Gator, Both of you brought up some great points! I hope you can attend our webinar at noon on Wednesday. I'd like everyone to sign in and take a look, but it sounds like you two have some experience and perspective to offer. We will have three panelists on hand to talk about online learning and answer questions by live chat. The panelists are: ESD Technology Director Pete Phillips; Judy Margrath-Huge, director of the new state Department of Digital Learning and Susan Stewart, head of schools for the Washington Virtual Academy. I'd love to hear some reviews of programs you've tried, or if you want to talk about any concerns you have, I'm sure the panelists wouldn't mind addressing them. The sign-up box is on our home page. It's blue in the right-hand column. I plan to watch this comment thread and take some of the concerns here to our panelists on Wednesday.

red2 3 years, 3 months ago

The on-line schools never ask for a property tax levy. More power to them!

mitch117 3 years, 3 months ago

I took online classes my last two years at Eastmont High School and can say that without those classes i would not have graduated. The only down side i saw was that you don't get in-depth with the subject your studying and don't learn as much as you can or should in some cases. Now i do believe it's probably one of the best investments that the Eastmont School Dist. has made toward student learning and success and hope i they still fund the program in the future.

Cactus 3 years, 3 months ago

" I can hardly believe you people.....shouldn't you be at home teaching your children the way you want them to be taught" . Sure. Except, for the world that MOST of america lives in, there are little things like... Rent, Food, Bills and etc. that need paid. These things necessitate being EMPLOYED. Money doesnt just fall from the sky. Im sure many people would love to spend more time with their children, but, I think their guilt is alleviated by providing their family with such luxuries as a roof, food, clothing, etc. Lets think in the REAL world here, not in theories and fantasies. The world is what it is and people have to do what they have to do. Dont condemn them for it.

Lisa 3 years, 3 months ago

Randy Dutton: I would like to shake your hand. Thank you for stating the facts about why students are dropping out of public schooling. Despite the "No Bullying Act" and the "No Child Left Behind Law"-...It still happens. Drugs are rampant and the Violence is horriffic. My son received an "F" in Math one quarter from public school, but took an online class and received an "A". What does that say about the teacher, who is still teaching?? The principle turned a blind eye when these issues were presented. I am glad we have a choice!

randydutton 3 years, 3 months ago

LiveFree - We've homeschooled before and loved it, but then we had the resources and our options were limited based upon the location on a little island in BC. For parents who can homeschool, it is great for the kids.

But you're wrong that online public school means our kids are brainwashed from afar. We have much more knowledge of what they're learning than from the traditional school, which had teachers who took umbrage with us asking questions. They basically told us "leave us alone and let us do the teaching". We discuss their work at lunch and dinner. Online programs often give immediate answers to questions. And kids learn how to read and write quickly because it mostly is computer driven.

I found that public school counselors generally avoid telling students and parents about the online option. They're protecting their turf. We found out from other WAVA parents. And we've told other local parents who had problems with the local schools.

At the Roanoke Conference Saturday I was told of the employee of a friend, whose son had started getting Fs in nearly all classes and was going to drop out. My friend told him about WAVA and he signed his son up. WAVA assessed the student and found he had a reading problem and was assessed at a 6th grade level, and they helped him overcome it. In one year he soared back up to his 11th grade level, and went back to the local HS and now is has a B average.

randydutton 3 years, 3 months ago

Lisa, Violence is rampant. One of my son's had a hold back student who described in detail, in front of a witness, how he was going to assasinate my son, and then me. (I had never met him). The kid only showed empathy for our dog who he said he didn't want to kill if possible. That was scary and I called the police. He admitted it and was suspended for 5 days. That's it.

randydutton 3 years, 3 months ago

Rachel - exactly what website link takes me to the webinar? I'll try to make it if possible.

Lisa 3 years, 3 months ago

Randy: My son also had a similar incident, where another student brought a hunting knife to school to "slice my son up." I was notified at work by the vice principal that the school was uncomfortable allowing my son to walk home, could I please come pick him up. This other boy was also suspended for 5 days. 5 DAYS??? I am seriously considering an alternative to public school for my daughter who is now in 6th grade. Thank goodness my son is graduated.

rio002 3 years, 3 months ago

Randy: Thank you so much for putting in the time and effort regarding the benefits of WAVA. My nephew had dropped out of school in the 8th grade due to what is now the standard "school issues/teacher problems" however, when we found WAVA he was more than willing to try it out. He is now an excellent student and is in his 3rd year with WAVA. He is more articulate, informed and most of all, he now asks questions that in itself for any parent/learning coach shows a desire to learn and understand more. Online homeschool isn't for everyone just as public school isn't for everyone either. I love that fact the we have so many more choices for education now. When I was homeschooled, curriculum was limited and in many ways unstructured. WAVA takes the guessing out of the high school requirements/credits for graduation, they supply everything Randy mentioned and more, then it's our job to expand on the curriculum for our students and be sure they get time for socializing. Traci McGivern

Don 3 years, 3 months ago

We homeschool our son using the WAVA curriculum. It doesn't take a genius to look at the elementary school he would have been attending and quickly realize that it is not a healthy, nurturing environment. . Public educators do tend to get a bit uppity when their performance, or lack thereof, is discussed. There are a lot of problems with the current system and nobody in power appears interested in dealing with the real issues. Each year, as a new crop of standardized test scores are released, instead of seeing any substantive action to remedy the dismal performance, we instead see a chorus of excuses for why they have failed, again. It is never their fault. . As long as we have the means, my son will never set foot in one of those schools. I genuinely sympathize with the teachers who still have the fight and still try hard every day to do a great job. Unfortunately for them, and the kids, their efforts are doomed by forces beyond their control. . It is not at all surprising that the driving factor behind this entire article is money. The quality of education is not the priority. All that matters is getting the per child funding allotment. If schools did a good job educating, people would not be looking for alternatives in the first place. Address the core issue and you won't have to seek out policy loopholes to try and trap families that are only looking for what is best for their children. . To summarize: Just because a school creates its own online learning option that doesn't mean anyone will want to use it.