Cyber School Laws in Tenn. and Homeschooling
BevK December 28th, 2005
http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=18229
Law Banning Cyber Charter Schools May Be Harming Education in Rural Tennessee
A report released by the Tennessee Center for Policy Research on October 31 suggests the state’s three-year-old charter school law, which expressly prohibits the authorization of cyber charters, may be preventing thousands of rural students from improving their education.
While it would take a relatively simple language change to allow cyber charter schools in Tennessee, Mitchell cautions in his report that legislators must craft language that would prevent school systems from abusing the financial benefits of cyber charters, while respecting and protecting parents’ rights to homeschool their children.
Where cyber charter schools cost less than what the typical public school spends per pupil, every effort must be made to prevent the local education authority (LEA) from pushing students toward cyber charter schools for financial gain, Mitchell writes. Any law must prevent LEAs from turning a profit when a student leaves traditional schooling for a cyber charter school. Mitchell recommends placing those savings in a fund to offset future budget increases, thus saving tax dollars.
In addition, any cyber charter law must ensure homeschooled students remain exempt from the mandatory state testing that would be required of a public cyber charter student, Mitchell writes. The law also should prohibit local government use of cyber charters to take homeschooled students back into the public education system in an attempt to generate school funding.
That’s the trick. Writing legislation to cover all possibilities.
