State Stepping in to Delay Virtual Online Learning

A one-year moratorium on the creation of virtual online charter schools is making its way through the Illinois legislature.

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After school boards from around the Fox Valley area voted this week to deny Virtual Learning Solutions' K12 Inc. admittance to their curriculum, State Rep. Linda Chapa LaVia (D-Aurora) is crafting legislation that would stop the online learning proposals for up to a year, according to a report in the Kane County Chronicle. The moratorium would give the state more time to study virtual online learning and its effects on education.

The legislation, which is co-sponsored by State Rep. Kay Hatcher (R-Yorkville), passed Chapa LaVia’s House Elementary and Secondary Education Committee this week, and soon could make its way to the full House for a vote, the Chronicle reported.

“All my school boards voiced their concerns about this topic. Online learning has great value, but the (Illinois State Charter School Commission) was not created to address a totally virtual environment,” Hatcher said in a post on her Facebook page. “This gives everyone time to address our changing education platform.”

Several school boards, including Valley View School District 365U, said they were disappointed with the lack of information and "evidence of value" in a proposal by K12's Virtual Learning Solutions. 

K12 officials said they hope to start the virtual charter school with 1,000 students from 18 area K-12 districts, including Valley View, Plainfield 202 and Oswego 308. If the virtual charter opened, K12 anticipates it would draw $8,000 per student from state funds that would otherwise go to the school districts. 

In a public hearing on the proposal, Valley View school board member Rich Gougis was quick to ask about their low graduation rates and test scores. None of the virtual charter schools have ever made AYP. 

K12 argued that the students enrolling in virtual charter schools are more "at-risk." Superintendent James Mitchem said "blaming the students" for their lack of achievement was unacceptable. 

Board member Leo Venegas said K12 lacked proof of the success it had touted. 

"You want us to go to our community and ask to invest in your company without any evidence of value," Venegas said. "You come to a public hearing and tell us that here’s all this great stuff happening with your organization, a public company, and nothing to back it up and no proof."

Valley View has yet to vote on the proposal. 

Read the full report from the Kane County Chronicle here.