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Lancaster Online has an article about serious attempts in the PA legislature to curtail spending on virtual charter schools.

The rhetoric is so thick you can slice it.

Lehigh County residents, vote Beyer out, please! She’s the uneducated person responsible for the most popular of the bills [pdf].

You can comment to her directly via links from the state house site.

eSchoolNews reports that an Indiana state budget battle will leave two new virtual charter schools unfunded, forcing about 2,200 students to seek other alternatives. The debate in that state over virtual charter schools is quite heated, with both sides voicing strong arguments. Democratic Representative Joe Micon said that:

“We have a responsibility to fund and maintain public schools…[w]e don’t have a constitutional requirement to publicly fund those who choose to home-school their children.”

Ron Brumbarger, CEO of the Indiana Virtual Charter School chastised the lawmakers saying:

“Shame on our legislature for being shortsighted and disappointing these 2,000 students around Indiana…Shame on our legislature for not being forward-thinking for how to create a competitive Indiana, instead of slamming the brakes on innovation. They should be embarrassed.”

Over 24 states have virtual charter school programs, including Pennsylvania. Jarrod is in the PAVCS program and Tori will be joining him in the fall. The teachers & support staff are great and the curriculum & activities are well crafted and managed. It would be a shame to lose any virtual charter school program in this state, and Indiana is guaranteed to scare away an entire class of potential residents with this stance on next-gen education alternatives. Time for the voters in Indiana to remember the lack of forward-thinking when poll-time comes around.

Jarrod did a self-portrait as part of an art activity from the Pennsylvania Virtual Charter School (PAVCS). They have a robust art program and Jarrod does more in it that I ever did, even in high school.