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Legislators in the House and Senate will soon engage in lively discussions about a provision in the House budget that would fund vouchers for low-income students.  But they should be mindful that other forms of choice, particularly virtual charter schools, are essential to their larger effort to empower North Carolina families.  This is a discussion that should include someone who has already declared his support for expanding virtual school options — Governor Pat McCrory.

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CommenTerry

Last week, Governor McCrory addressed the NC State Board of Education (SBE) to outline a few of the priorities that will be addressed by his administration, including an examination of the state’s testing program and increased coordination between the preschool, elementary, secondary, and higher education levels.

Although the governor’s proposed budget hinted at those priorities, the NC SBE meeting was one of only a handful of instances when the governor has discussed his education reform agenda since his election victory in November.  But Governor McCrory need not reinvent that agenda.  Indeed, the education platform disseminated during his campaign, A Passion for Education: The McCrory Plan for North Carolina Schools, contains a number of sound ideas for raising student achievement in an efficient and productive way.

A few of the ideas listed in "A Passion for Education" have (or will) become law.  For example, the legislature passed Senate Bill 14 (S.L. 2013-1), which begins the process of developing separate college and career pathways for high school students.  The dual pathways approach was a signature component of McCrory’s education plan.  Similarly, McCrory’s recommendations to refine the charter school approval process, implement a performance pay program, and grade schools based on student performance are likely to garner approval from legislators in the final weeks of the current session.

Nevertheless, the governor has been conspicuously silent on another key plank of his education proposal — expanding virtual schools.  In "A Passion for Education," McCrory called on legislators to offer "greater access and more flexibility to local school systems to our students — public, private, and home schooled — to a wide range of for credit, online courses."  It is time for McCrory to step forward and work with legislative leaders to ensure that taxpayer funds follow the student to the virtual or online charter school of his choice.

I suspect that some of Governor McCrory’s advisors counseled him to stay away from such a "controversial" topic.  But the truth is that expanding virtual charter schools is only controversial for a small number of Raleigh-based advocacy groups and state education officials.  These are the same folks who obsessively protect the status quo and advance their own political and social agenda.  Some advocacy groups have gone to great lengths to target K12, Inc., a virtual school provider that had their charter unilaterally (and I believe illegally) denied by then-chairman of the NC State Board of Education Bill Harrison.  Predictably, their "coverage" of K12 is less than impartial.

For many North Carolinians, the idea of expanding virtual school choice is not controversial at all.  Rather, it is an extension of the idea that the traditional public school system cannot meet the educational needs of every child.  Unfortunately, most parents do not have the means to finance educational options on their own.

For state legislators, this is an ideal time to move forward with expanding virtual charter schools in North Carolina, given the budget constraints perpetuated by the growth in Medicaid.  A recent Fordham Institute study of the cost of virtual charters estimated that a virtual charter cost approximately $6,500 per student to operate.  In North Carolina, the average operating cost of a traditional charter school is around $7,800, but in most cases, a sizable portion of that amount is used for capital expenses.  Although no studies of charter capital expenditures exist, I estimate that the average operating cost for a traditional charter school hovers in the $7,300 a student range.  Of course, much will depend on the circumstances of the individual students that enroll.   If the virtual charter enrolls low-income students, for example, then the virtual charter (just like its public school counterparts) will incur additional costs.

In other words, virtual charters will save money, but they cannot operate for pennies on the dollar.  Regrettably, some of the early proponents of virtual charters made absurd claims about the cost savings, e.g., that the virtual charter could operate at half of the cost of a traditional public school.  In reality, savings will reach a few hundred dollars per student.  Given the fact that thousands of families signaled an interest to enroll in a virtual charter school proposed by N.C. Learns, seemingly small per student savings will add up quickly.

In the case of virtual charter schools, Governor McCrory has an ideal opportunity to further demonstrate his leadership on education issues.  More importantly, he has an opportunity to improve the lives of North Carolinians by working with the legislature to expand choice to every public school parent in the state via virtual charter schools.

Facts and Stats

2012 Digital Learning Now: Report Card for North Carolina

Education Acronym of the Week

NCVPS — North Carolina Virtual Public School

Quote of the Week

"I propose offering greater access and more flexibility to local school systems to our students — public, private, and home schooled — to a wide range of for credit, online courses."

Pat McCrory, A Passion for Education: The McCrory Plan for North Carolina Schools, March 28, 2012

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