Online Education Slow to Load

Parents upset that new Internet school won't initially serve middle grades.

Kelly Wiese
The Associated Press

Jefferson City — Missouri, for the first time this fall, will offer hundreds of students a chance to take online courses for free throughout the state. But many parents are upset because middle-school students will be left out for now.

A state law required the education department to create a "virtual school" for kindergarten through high school students.

But the agency decided to start in stages, expecting more limited funding, so its bid request for the school's initial year was limited to areas where it expected the highest interest. Classes will be offered to kindergarten through fifth grade and to high school students in the coming school year, but a sixth through eighth grade program won't be available until the following year.

The legislature's budget process is under way. But the plan awaiting a House vote would provide $5.2 million for the virtual school in the first year — double the governor's original budget recommendation.

But education officials say that even with more money, it's too late to add middle-school grades.
That's especially frustrating to parents of middle-school students who championed the program at the Capitol.

Garry Jones, of Kansas City, has a 12-year-old daughter who is home-schooled by her parents because of her asthma and allergies. She will be in seventh grade next year, falling into the gap in the virtual education program. He said his family and many others with middle-school students traveled to Jefferson City to advocate for the bill and now aren't reaping its benefits.

"The bill was K through 12. Never was it said we would not have certain grades," said Jones, who is also the chairman of Missourians for Online Education.

Curt Fuchs, virtual education director for the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, said the bid process to select contractors that will offer the curriculum is lengthy and couldn't be redone in time for August.

Fuchs said he's evaluating whether there's a way to cover all grades once the winning contractors are selected, which should occur in late April.

"We haven't come up with a good solution yet," he said.

Fuchs said the state education agency is receiving 30 to 40 calls a day from people interested in the virtual school, and elected officials asked if the department could handle more students in the first year.

So the plan is to instead enroll the equivalent of 1,000 full-time students, rather than 500, in elementary and high school. In reality, many more actual students probably will take part, as some may only want one or two courses.

Jones said he told Fuchs, "The people who got you your job are not even given the opportunity to participate in the new program."

Education officials and legislators say they understand the frustration, but want to move slowly in getting the program running and work out the kinks. They pledge courses will be offered to all grade levels in the second year.

"It is still a pilot project at the end of the day," said Rep. Brian Baker, R-Belton, who has pushed to increase the budget for the coming year. "We have to take one step at a time."

Baker said he's advocating doubling the budget even knowing those three grade levels won't be available for the coming school year, reasoning that there's enough demand for the online courses and state-certified teachers that the slots will be easily filled.

Fuchs said he envisions a program that can help a student who flunked a class get caught up, or allow another to get a required course out of the way during the summer, freeing up hours during the school day for other interests. Plus, it could be just the answer for a small rural school with two students wanting to take trigonometry and no appropriate teacher.

Some families say that's part of the problem — education officials aren't focused on those who want to use the virtual school as a full-time program.

"We still don't understand completely why he chose to leave those grades out," Jones said. "I know what we've been told, but I still don't understand it."