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'Virtual' School Bailout Makes the Illegal 'Legal'
Huzzah! Huzzah! The Palm Peach Post does it again.
Voucher schools in Florida benefit from a double standard written into law. Unlike public schools, they don't have to give tests or be financially accountable. It's wrong, but it's the law. In contrast, state legislators broke the law to enshrine a double standard for virtual schools. Their new double standard shortchanged 63,000 children.
The virtual school experimental program allows two private companies to offer online courses to 1,000 public school students. At $4,800 per student, they were supposed to save the state $700 a head. As with voucher schools, mismanagement by Education Commissioner Jim Horne has encouraged abuses.
Lawmakers attached an important safeguard to virtual schools. Home-schoolers aren't entitled to state money. If they snapped up the virtual vouchers, the program would drain the budget rather than pad it. So lawmakers stipulated that "eligibility is limited to students who were enrolled and in attendance at a Florida public school... during the prior school year."
That's where Mr. Horne decided to break the law. He permitted virtual schools to sign up 227 students who had not been in public school. When that illegal decision became public, Mr. Horne declared that he wouldn't make the companies pay back the $1 million and wouldn't force the 227 students to "leave" the virtual schools. (Republican insider William Bennett owns one of the schools.) Instead, Mr. Horne looked for a way to make the public pay for his mistake, and this month, GOP lawmakers on the Legislative Budget Commission -- which makes midyear budget corrections -- let him get away with it.
That's where the new double standard comes in. First, Republican commission members refused to approve an available $23 million to maintain health insurance for 63,000 children, claiming that the law authorizing the insurance wouldn't allow it. (See Elisa Cramer's column on this page for details.) A few minutes later, they approved $1 million for the virtual schools -- despite the law forbidding it.
It's a double standard. One fix is to provide the health insurance money. But more should be done. Mr. Horne, whose other failures include confusing and conflicting FCAT and No Child Left Behind standards, has refused to explain the virtual-school mistake. He should do so, then fire those responsible. If Mr. Horne is responsible, he should be fired. The companies that enrolled the ineligible students should be barred from participating if the program is renewed. If that doesn't happen, Gov. Bush and the Legislature will draw further attention to their double standards for accountability.
— Editorial
Palm Beach Post
2004-01-16
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/opinion/content/auto/epaper/editions/friday/opinion_0470b268c0c871ef009b.html
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