Illinois elected officials recently passed HB 494, which prohibits the establishment of any new charter school with a virtual-schooling component in all school districts in Illinois, except for Chicago, until 2014. On May 24th, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn signed the bill into law.
As the bill stipulates, while the moratorium is in place, the Illinois State Charter School Commission will conduct a study on the effects of virtual-schooling and report back to the General Assembly on their findings.
The reason behind the moratorium stems from a debate centered in part over money that virtual-schooling opponents say would be siphoned away from traditional district schools and in part over questions about student performance. Advocates for virtual-schooling say these schools offer more flexibility to families and customized curriculum for all students.
One thing we can all agree on is that technology is here to stay. So, it’s clear that—at least to some extent—schools will need to adapt to an increasingly virtual world. We just need to figure out how to make this shift while also ensuring our kids receive a high-quality education.
I recently attended a Summit in San Francisco where the opening speaker, Thomas Friedman who authored “The World is Flat,” gave the audience a chilling reality check on how our global connectivity translates into a massive challenge for our American students. Our current system of education doesn’t look much different than it did in the early 1900’s: desks, chairs, teacher in the front of the classroom, and a blackboard behind the teacher. We’re going to have to shift away from this model and incorporate more virtual elements into our classrooms if we want our students to be engaged and prepared for their futures.
In this fast paced internet age, virtual charter schools are not likely to fade away. However, helping elected officials have a serious dialogue about the future of quality educational options, and the role virtual public charter schools can play in this effort, is a good thing.
We look forward to the Commission’s report to the general assembly in 2014 in the hopes that we can all find common ground when it comes to bringing virtual components into a public charter school education in a meaningful way.
The Illinois State Charter School Commission has some important homework ahead.
For the last 10 years, Rebeca has worked across the country for organizations with national scopes and local reach into many states, so she is thrilled to apply her national experience in her home turf as the Illinois State Director of Democrats for Education Reform. Read more about Rebeca here.