9486 in the collection
Online charter school's price tag hits $1.5 million for 150 students
When will someone check where
the money goes?
By Becky Orr
CHEYENNE -- It would cost about $9,901 per
student to operate an online K-12 charter
school here in fiscal year 2009.
The projected cost is included in an
application for the Laramie 1 Online Academy.
The application's budget notes that expenses
are projected at $990,175 in 2009 for a charter
school with 100 students and at about $1.5
million for a school with 150 students.
There are no minimum enrollment requirements
for the proposed school. But the application
says the academy would provide a charter model
for up to 150 students starting with the 2009
school year.
Money would come from the state's funding
system.
A charter is a public school that has some
freedom in the curriculum it uses. The state
would double fund the school in its first year.
The extra money would help pay start-up costs,
said LCSD1 Superintendent Ted Adams.
Laramie County School District 1 trustees
received the application on Monday. They will
decide whether to approve or reject the
application.
Each student at the virtual school would be
loaned a laptop computer.
Internet hook-ups would be provided free at
their homes.
The school could reach students in LCSD1 who
are home-schooled and those who move
frequently, Adams said.
More than 400 students who live in LCSD1 are
registered as home-school pupils. Adams said it
is almost irresponsible not to consider such a
proposal given the large population that isn't
served.
The virtual academy also would enroll about 25
students who live in LCSD1 but now attend an
online school offered from Gillette.
The online charter would help the district
guarantee a high-quality education to each
child, Adams said.
Students would have verbal contact with a
teacher at least once a week, Adams said.
They also would have a lot of contact over the
Internet with the teachers.
Expenses outlined in the proposal are based on
those of a virtual charter school formed in
Gillette, Adams said.
The proposal would make the home-schooled
students part of LCSD1, Adams said. The school
would use the K12 Inc. curriculum.
Its employees would be covered as LCSD1
workers.
Bonnie Bartholomew and her husband, Skip, have
two children enrolled in the virtual school out
of Gillette. She supports the proposed school
and said it will help home-schooled children.
"I think it will help the parents out," she
said, adding it would give them more support.
"I can't see a negative."
— Becky Orr
Wyoming Tribune Eagle
2009-01-11
http://www.wyomingnews.com/articles/2009/01/11/local_news_updates/19local_01-11-09.txt
INDEX OF OUTRAGES
Pages: 380
[1] 2 3 4 5 6 Next >> Last >>
