Vouchers for Vendors Redux and in Piecemeal Form

I have received a few questions from curious parents about two related matters: 1) the "on-line" courses currently being advertised on Patch under the guise of a blog and 2) what do I mean when I refer to "piecemeal" attacks on public education.

The first day of school offers a chance to answer both questions in part.

The on-line offerings are governed by the mammoth school and testing corporation, Pearson, a British owned company that has an extraordinary interest in ongoing education reform.

Briefly, the more we give up local control and the more we test, the more they make. And the more they make on what used to be considered public funds. The name for this now is 21f.

They would have made a ton in Michigan, for example, had Governor Snyder's original "unbundling" 2011 plan made it past December 2012 lame duck. HB5923 would have mandated that BHSD, for example, pay the total state per-pupil allowance to Pearson for any kid that signed up for a course (they do look attractive, don't they!!). While largely unproven academically, this system would have really hurt BHSD financially, taking public funds and redirecting them to a huge corporation that has little interest in your kid. And the quality of the instruction would be completely out of anyone local's hands.

Massive opposition stymied this wholesale public give away in Dec. 2012, but the Governor decided to proceed -- per his top advisor, Richard McCellan -- 'piecemeal." This means the state would work towards taking money in small bits, will little fanfare, and slowly bleed districts of funds.

So: 21f funds were introduced in to the state budget so that students could take 2 courses with District approval at a max of 1/12 of BHSD's per pupil allowance. Here is the language from Mike McCready's office way back in the budget process]:

"[21f]It does allow for a student, with parental consent, to enroll in up to two on-line courses with district approval in an online course offered by another public school district.  The school district that offers these online classes may contract them out to a private vendor but that is the districts choice. I have been told that many districts already offer online classes through private vendors to their students within their district and this legislation would allow students outside the district to participate. It's very similar to dual-enrollment in college courses permissible today.   Under 21f, the students home district will approve or deny based on a number of factors, including whether the student has duplicate credits, the course is capable of generating academic credit, the course is consistent with graduation requirements, and the student has taken the prerequisite courses.  The section also has clear requirements for districts choosing to offer an on-line course, and limits the cost they can charge for an on-line course to 1/12th of the district's foundation allowance per student. "

This is piecemeal gutting at its finest and sharpest.

The District and local reps did job a wholesale and quick transfer of public funds to Pearson (or the Nexus Academy) but they had to take a little bloodletting, quietly. You have the "choice" to sell your courses or your "choice" to contract an outside vendor. See? Choice? Options? The only non-option is having public funds increased and go where they are supposed to go: public schools.

Some in the District -- for whatever reason, and I think it nuts -- believe 21j a good thing because it will give the District a chance to "compete" in this market, selling online courses BHSD generates. First, you can't compete with a behemoth like Pearson and, second, this would require BHSD to hire all sorts of "tech" consultants and or quietly direct faculty to develop on-line courses for sale rather than focus on District kids. Faculty get no auto company type bonus for this work, by the way.

At the moment, on-line results are not promising anywhere -- academically speaking.

On spec, then, we are handing out funds to on line vendors or, alternately, entering the on line business. Many called this a "vouchers for vendors" program -- which really bugged Lansing.

"There are no vouchers for vendors," I was told emphatically.

Stay calm. Lisa Lyons and Phil Pavlov go back to work today after a 10week break. They will be busy dissolving school districts and trumpeting the EAA.