Among the little-noticed provisions of the complex, sweepingschool reform bill that's rocketing through the Idaho Legislature isone that would double-fund virtual charter schools for theirexisting computers.
SB 1184, state schools Superintendent Tom Luna's reform bill thatpassed the Senate on Thursday and is awaiting consideration in theHouse, sets a goal of a 1-to-1 ratio of computers to high schoolstudents, phased in over several years, and it shifts money out ofthe state's teacher-salary fund to pay for the purchases. But schooldistricts that already have reached that 1-to-1 ratio will get themoney as discretionary funds, to use for whatever they like.
Here's where the double-funding comes in: Idaho already has paidfor one computer for every student at virtual charter schools, whichare online charter schools in which students study at home and areissued computers and other materials; Idaho has three, with morethan 4,000 students enrolled.
A half-dozen years ago, the Legislature authorized fundingstudent computers and other high-tech equipment for virtual charterschools from the state's "pupil transportation fund," reasoning thatwhere brick-and-mortar schools have to transport students to school,virtual charter schools use computers to transport the education tothe students.
Last year, those three schools received $1.57 million in "pupiltransportation" funds from the state to pay for computers, Internetconnections and the like for their students.
"Schools can only receive reimbursement for certain items, suchas Internet connectivity or computers, to name a few," said MelissaMcGrath, Luna's spokeswoman.
All three schools, the Idaho Virtual Academy, iSucceed andInspire, would qualify for the new additional discretionary money.McGrath said they could choose instead to get new computers andupgrade, but if they did that, they couldn't also get transportationreimbursements for the same new computers. They could, however,continue to claim transportation reimbursements for other qualifyingexpenses, like Internet connections.
That means under SB 1184, the state will double-fund the virtualcharters for their existing computers, but only single-fund newcomputers they get in the future.
In 2009, lawmakers asked a task force to investigate how thestate was spending its school transportation funds; among thefindings was that the state should do away with using bus money forcomputers at virtual charter schools, an expense that the taskforce's report noted was growing each year. No action ever was takenon the report.
CHANGES ALREADY
Legislation was introduced in the Idaho House of RepresentativesFriday to change the newly signed SB 1108, the teacher-contractsbill, repealing a provision that requires teachers who are laid offin the fall due to declining enrollment to get severance payments of10 percent. That repeal would be permanent.
Then, the bill proposed by House Majority Caucus Chairman KenRoberts would grant partial relief from the end of the "99 percentfloor" in state funding for school districts that lose enrollment,which was repealed by SB 1108. That provision has long permittedschool districts to keep their state funding at 99 percent of theprevious year's level when they have enrollment swings.
What the new bill would do is allow a district that's lostenrollment in the 2011-2012 school year to get 97 percent of itsprevious-year state funding, rather than 99 percent as the previouslaw required, or no protection, as SB 1108 required. But that wouldlast for just one year, and then it would expire. After that,districts would get neither the funding protection nor the money forseverance payments.
'SKIN IN THE GAME'
As the Senate debated and passed a higher education budget fornext year that's the lowest in state funding since 2000, Sen. JimHammond, R-Coeur d'Alene, noted that most Idaho students don't evengo on to higher ed, but those who do benefit greatly, including byearning higher salaries throughout their lives. "Tuition in Idaho isstill one of the best buys in this country," Hammond said, "and yes,they will have to pay a little more. ... This all costs money andthe students have to bear some of that load."
He said, "Quite frankly I'm not going to feel bad about that.They've got to have some skin in the game as well, and it's good forthem."
Betsy Z. Russell can be reached at (208) 336-2854 orbetsyr@spokesman.com.
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