Some families enrolled in the Idaho Home Learning Academy public virtual charter school used state funding to pay for virtual reality headsets, hoverboards, hunting equipment, video games and video game controllers, paddleboards, smart watches, admission tickets to water parks and subscriptions to streaming services like Netflix and Hulu, according to a new state watchdog report released Tuesday.

The nonpartisan , which is commonly referred to as OPE, released the Tuesday at the Idaho State Capitol after the release was authorized by the

OPE released the evaluation report after multiple Idaho legislators signed a March 5 letter requesting the office study the Idaho Home Learning Academy鈥檚 finances, expenditures, policies, contracts and student achievement results.

The Idaho Home Learning Academy, or IHLA for short, is a rapidly growing public virtual charter school authorized by the small, rural Oneida School District.

There were about 7,600 online students enrolled at Idaho Home Learning Academy during the 2024-25 school year, many of which do not live within the traditional geographic boundaries of the Oneida School District.

New report raises questions about how supplemental learning funds are used by some families

As part of Idaho Home Learning Academy鈥檚 contract, its education service providers administer supplemental learning funds of $1,700 to $1,800 per student to families enrolled in IHLA that were paid for by Idaho taxpayer dollars, the report found. The money is intended to help pay families for education expenses, and the OPE evaluators found that the largest share of the funds were spent on technology expenses, such as computers, printers and internet access. Other significant sources of supplemental learning fund expenses went for physical education activities and performing arts expenses, the OPE report found.

However, OPE evaluators found that some families used their share of funding for tuition and fees at private schools and programs. Some families also used their funds for noneducational board games, kitchen items like BBQ tongs, cosmetics, a home theater projector screen, video games, Nintendo Switch controllers, a Meta Quest virtual reality headset, movie DVDs, weapons, sights lasers, shooting targets, remote controlled cars, hoverboards, action figures, smartwatches, water park tickets and the cost of registering website domain names, the OPE report found.

Families with students enrolled at Idaho Home Learning Academy are able to access the funds though both direct ordering programs and reimbursements. The OPE report found that Idaho Home Learning Academy鈥檚 three service providers (Braintree, Home Ed and Harmony) spent about $12.5 million providing supplemental learning funds for IHLA families during the 2024-25 school year. Service providers said that some families did not spend any or all of their supplemental learning funds, and the money was retained by the service providers, not returned back to the state or school district, the OPE report found.

Idaho governor, superintendent of public instruction respond to OPE report鈥檚 findings

Idaho Gov. Brad Little called the report鈥檚 findings 鈥渢roubling鈥� in a letter released with the report Tuesday.

鈥淲e also have an obligation to be responsible stewards of taxpayer dollars,鈥� Little wrote. 鈥淭he OPE report on IHLA is troubling, especially as it pertains to supplemental learning fund expenses, academic performance, supplemental curriculum and the funding formula that enables virtual programs to receive more funding than brick-and-mortar public schools. The OPE report reveals that statutory safeguards are insufficient, oversight is inconsistent and accountability measures have not kept pace with the fast expansion of the IHLA program.鈥�

The OPE evaluation report findings come at a time when every dollar of state funding in Idaho is being stretched further amid a revenue shortfall. All state agencies outside of the K-12 public school system are implementing 3% mid-year budget holdbacks, and the, the Idaho Capital Sun previously reported.

Idaho Superintendent of Public Instruction Debbie Critchfield said the report raised concerns for her as well.

鈥�(The OPE report) also raises important questions about whether direct and indirect payments to families are a proper and legal use of funds appropriated for public schools,鈥� Critchfield wrote in a Nov. 26 letter to OPE leadership.

The OPE evaluation report found that limited oversight and accountability create uncertainty about how supplemental learning funds paid for with state taxpayer dollars are used and whether students鈥� curriculum choices align with state standards and transparency requirements.

Idaho state laws and administrative rules do not specifically allow or prohibit the use of supplemental learning funds, the OPE report found. That finding was one of several 鈥減olicy gray areas鈥� that the OPE evaluation report documented.

Little concluded his letter by saying he is ready to work with the Idaho Legislature, the Idaho State Department of Education and the Idaho State Board of Education to restore meaningful accountability for the use of taxpayer dollars.

鈥淚 have carefully reviewed the recommendations provided in this report and strongly encourage the Legislature to address the loopholes in state statute,鈥� Little wrote.

Oneida School District superintendent stresses Idaho Home Learning Academy did not break state law

In response to the OPE report, Oneida School District Superintendent Dallan Rupp, who is also a member of the Idaho Home Learning Academy School board, emphasized that the report did not find that IHLA was guilty of any misconduct.

鈥淚mportantly, the OPE report did not identify any misconduct at IHLA,鈥� Rupp said during a meeting Tuesday at the Idaho State Capitol in Boise. 鈥淭his outcome underscores the effectiveness of Oneida School District鈥檚 oversight and reflects IHLA鈥檚 consistent compliance with Idaho鈥檚 laws, statutes, rules, regulations and procedures, as well as its cooperative relationship with the Idaho State Department of Education. We remain fully committed to operating within all established guidelines, just as we have in the past.鈥�

Idaho Sen. James Ruchti, D-Pocatello, said it was beside the point that the school didn鈥檛 break any laws.

鈥淚鈥檓 extremely concerned,鈥� Ruchti said during Tuesday鈥檚 meeting at the Idaho State Capitol in Boise. 鈥淭his is public money 鈥� public taxpayer money 鈥� and we have an obligation to make sure that it鈥檚 spent appropriately and with oversight. And so, yes, it may not have violated any statutory requirements at this point. But what I鈥檓 saying is that what I saw in that presentation caused me serious concerns about how IHLA and other online teaching institutions are able to spend public dollars in a way that was not intended.鈥�

Idaho watchdog report found most online virtual teachers were part-time employees

OPE also found that most Idaho Home Learning Academy teachers were part-time, unlike traditional schools, and the Idaho Home Learning Academy spends much less on salaries and benefits than it receives from the state鈥檚 salary apportionment formula.

The report found IHLA was able to use the savings it realized in state funding provided to pay for staff salaries and health benefits to instead use at IHLA鈥檚 discretion or to pay its education service providers.

The OPE report found that most of IHLA鈥檚 teachers are part-time employees and do not provide full-time direct instruction to students. Instead, the report found that Idaho Home Learning Academy鈥檚 kindergarten through eighth grade instructional model relied heavily on parent-directed learning and that IHLA teachers typically offered feedback and oversight instead of direct instruction.

According to the report, IHLA reported $46.3 million in total expenditures from state funds during the 2024-25 school year. While traditional brick-and-mortar public schools鈥� largest expenditures are for staff salaries and benefits, the report found that only 36% of IHLA鈥檚 expenditures went to staff. A larger portion 鈥� 45% of IHLA鈥檚 total expenditures, or $20.6 million 鈥� went to paying education service providers.

The OPE report also found that Idaho Home Learning Academy鈥檚 students lagged behind statewide averages for scores on Idaho Standards Achievement Test, or ISAT. The OPE report found 42% of IHLA students were proficient in English language arts during the 2024-25 school year, compared to the statewide average of 52% of Idaho students.

The report also found just 25% of IHLA students were proficient in math during the 2024-25 school year, compared to the Idaho statewide average of 43%.

However, the OPE report highlighted that some IHLA families interviewed for the report said they do not believe statewide standardized tests are a good measure of student learning. The report also noted that many Idaho Home Learning Academy families identified themselves as homeschoolers and said they were using IHLA by choice because they were unhappy with the quality of education in traditional brick-and-mortar schools or felt that their child鈥檚 educational needs were not being met by more traditional public schools.

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Idaho Capital Sun maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Christina Lords for questions: info@idahocapitalsun.com.

Senate lawmakers on Monday advanced legislation that would launch the most comprehensive overhaul of New Jersey鈥檚 regulation of charter schools in 30 years.

advanced by the Senate Education Committee on Monday would outright ban for-profit charter schools, require them to post a range of documents online, and impose residency requirements for some charter school trustees.

鈥淲e have not looked at charter schools as a whole legislatively in this committee since the 1990s, so this is an opportunity where we鈥檙e trying to do that,鈥� said Sen. Vin Gopal (D-Monmouth), the panel鈥檚 chair and the bill鈥檚 prime sponsor.

The bill comes as New Jersey charter schools have faced scrutiny after reporting revealed top officials were paid at traditional public schools, including, among others, a Newark charter school CEO who was paid nearly $800,000 in 2024.

The proposal, which Gopal said was the product of a year of negotiations, would require charter schools to post user-friendly budgets that include the compensation paid to charter school leaders and school business administrators. They must also post existing contracts.

Charters would be required to post meeting notices, annual reports, board members鈥� identities, and facility locations online. Some critics have charged that charter schools routinely fail to provide notice of their public meetings.

The legislation would also require the state to create a dedicated charter school transparency website to host plain language budgets, 990 disclosure forms filed with the IRS, contracts with charter management organizations, and a list of charter schools on probation, among other things.

It would also ban fully virtual charter schools.

鈥淲e support the bills as a step forward in holding all public schools in our state accountable for fiscal and transparency requirements that will ultimately best serve our students,鈥� said Debbie Bradley, director of government relations for the New Jersey Principals and Supervisors Association.

The two sides remained at odds over the membership of charter school boards.

Charter critics argued residency for those positions 鈥� which, unlike traditional public school boards, are largely appointed rather than elected 鈥� should mirror those imposed on regular public schools.

In New Jersey, school board members must live in the district they serve. That鈥檚 not the case for charter schools, whose trustees face no residency or qualification limits under existing law.

The bill would only impose a residency requirement on one-third of a charter school鈥檚 trustees, and rather than forcing them to live in the district, the bill would require charter trustees to live in the school鈥檚 county or within 30 miles of the school.

That language was criticized by statewide teachers union the New Jersey Education Association, which has called existing law governing charter schools outdated and flawed.

鈥淪chool board representation should remain primarily local, and when we mean local, we don鈥檛 mean within a 30-mile radius. A 30-mile radius of Newark could include Maplewood, South Orange, communities that don鈥檛 necessarily represent what Newark looks like as a community,鈥� said Deb Cornavaca, the union鈥檚 director of government relations.

Charter school supporters said their boards need flexibility because their leadership has broader responsibilities than counterparts in traditional public schools.

鈥淩unning a charter is a little different than running a traditional district. You need experience in school finance. You need to fundraise a bunch of money on the front end because you鈥檙e not getting paid on the front end,鈥� said New Jersey Charter School Association President Harry Lee, adding they also needed familiarity with real estate and community experience.

Amendments removed provisions that would have required charter school board members to be approved by the state commissioner of education, though the commissioner retains sole power over whether to allow the formation of a new charter, a power that gives the commissioner some veto power over a charter鈥檚 board.

Gopal acknowledged the 30-mile residency rule was a sticking point and said legislators would discuss it before the measure comes before the Senate Budget Committee. Earlier, he warned the bill was likely to see more changes as it moved through the Legislature.

Some argued enrollment in charter schools should be more limited by geography, arguing that out-of-district enrollments that are common at New Jersey charters could place financial strain on the students鈥� former district.

Most per-pupil state and local funding follows students who enroll in charter schools, even if their departure does not actually decrease the original district鈥檚 expenses because, for example, those schools still require the same number of teachers and administrators.

Charter operators said that would make New Jersey a national outlier and argued that a separate provision that would bar new charter schools when there are empty seats in existing area charters should come out of the bill.

鈥淚t could be read as a moratorium on charters, so we want to revisit that provision,鈥� Lee said.

Such vacancies could exist for various reasons, they argued, including student age distributions.

Alongside that measure, the panel approved separate legislation that would bar charter schools from setting criteria to enroll students, ban them from imposing other requirements on a student randomly selected to attend, and place new limits on how such schools can enroll children from outside their district.

That bill would also bar charter schools from encouraging students to break with the district. Some opponents have charged that charter schools push out low-performing students to boost their metrics.

The committee approved the bills in unanimous votes, though Sens. Owen Henry (R-Ocean) and Kristin Corrado (R-Passaic) abstained from votes on both bills, saying they are broadly supportive but need more time to review amendments.

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. New Jersey Monitor maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Terrence T. McDonald for questions: info@newjerseymonitor.com.

The Union School Corporation in the tiny town of Modoc 鈥� population 157 鈥� fits many stereotypes of quaint rural Indiana, with its corn fields, dirt roads and Angus cattle farm right next door to its school campus. 

But it’s a different type of cow 鈥� the cash cow of an online school 鈥� that makes Union anything but a typical rural school district. 

State legislators say they have put Union on the chopping block because of poor performance. But district leaders believe the real reason is so the state can reap the benefits of the Indiana Digital Learning School, a virtual school Union has overseen since 2017 鈥� growing to 7,500 students and paying the district an estimated $3 million in oversight fees annually.  

That school is now the latest battleground in a years-long controversy in Indiana and nationally over who should oversee and earn money from online schools and the millions in tax dollars flowing through them.

Citing poor test scores, Indiana鈥檚 state legislature voted in April to close the Union schools by 2027 and send its 300 students who attend classes in-person to neighboring districts miles away. 

The online school would then be on its own and either shut down or bring its millions to another partner, either another district, the state or as a charter school.

Tucked into a major state tax reform bill as a last minute amendment, the legislature’s vote came as a surprise to the district, with no opportunity for debate.

Union is challenging the vote in court, saying it was singled out and that the legislature violated state law. Angry residents are defending the district, with even the electronic sign outside the Modoc United Methodist Church switching between listing service times and stating: 鈥淲e Support Union School Strong!鈥�

鈥淚 don鈥檛 know what to do,鈥� said Danielle Baker, who has a son going into sixth grade in the fall. She called the vote 鈥渁larming鈥� and is struggling to figure out where her son can finish school. 鈥淚 feel helpless. So I’m just trying to put on a brave front, I guess, and just see what happens.鈥�

Republican state representative J.D. Prescott, who called for the closure, said the move was necessary because Union has 鈥渟ome of the lowest reading scores in the state.鈥�

But the district believes the real reason is the millions it receives from the INDLS, which is run by the , formerly known as K12 Inc. 

鈥淚t has nothing to do with the school performance,鈥� said Union Superintendent Galen Mast. 鈥淚t has nothing to do with school size. It has everything to do with a greater plan that’s behind it.鈥�

Union attracted statewide and when it partnered with K12 in 2017 to start the online school as a . Private companies can鈥檛 just open a school and take in tax dollars for students who attend. So they need either the state or a school district to approve them to operate, or a designated agency known as an authorizer if they want to operate a charter school.

Union鈥檚 arrangement allows Stride/K12 to run the for-profit digital school as part of the district. In return, it gives Union 5% of the virtual school’s revenue, a huge bonus for a tiny district, especially now that the online school has grown dramatically.

Union school board president Christina Ogden said a state senator told her INDLS must close because the state wants to create its own online school. She and Mast said Prescott also told them the district could avoid being closed if it gave up its money from the digital school.

鈥淚 think they had to take out the one (online school) that had the most students first, and then it’ll be easier to go ahead and go around and close all of the others,鈥� Ogden said. 鈥淭he state wants to control those funds.鈥�

She said Prescott withdrew the offer as soon as he found support in the legislature to pass his amendment that will close Union schools.

Mast also believes the vote was about the virtual school money.鈥淲e’re not the smallest school. We don’t have the worst results, but we are tied to NDLS,鈥� Mast added. 

The future of the online school is unclear, since it鈥檚 not even mentioned in the law. Stride/K12 declined to directly answer multiple questions from 蜜桃影视 about its options, with spokesperson Brooke Gabbert saying it was too early to speculate.聽“Our priority is to ensure that Indiana Digital Learning School remains an option for families across the state,” Gabbert wrote in an email.

The Indiana Small and Rural Schools Association also objected to the legislature鈥檚 decision, saying the state should let small districts decide their own fate, not order changes, especially without debate.

鈥淲e’re just trying to figure out what is the threshold,鈥� said Christopher Lagoni, the association鈥檚 executive director. 鈥淲hat is it that says 鈥楾his is the standard for closure?鈥� Or is it an individual, case by case basis?鈥�

鈥淓verybody’s kind of in the dark on that,鈥� he added.

Prescott did not respond to written questions from 蜜桃影视 about whether he asked Union to give up the online school. He repeated concerns about Union鈥檚 test scores, though the state not giving districts grades each year since the pandemic makes comparing districts complicated. 

鈥淭his amendment is about starting a conversation on how to better serve these students and ensure they have access to a quality education,鈥� he wrote.

Indiana Secretary of Education Katie Jenner said the state isn鈥檛 planning an online school right now, but said the state education department will review Indiana鈥檚 entire online learning system next year. That review will look at all parts of online schools, including how many virtual schools Indiana should have, their funding and who can create or oversee them 

鈥淓verything,鈥� is how Jenner described the review. 

鈥淭he question is, what guardrails or flexibilities do we need to have in place to make sure we’re getting the outcomes that we need for kids,鈥� Jenner said.

That review won鈥檛 be an easy one because multiple districts, including one involving an influential Indiana family, all have an interest in having online school money in their budgets. 

Union and the Clarksville school districts are the only districts with statewide e-schools. Many other Indiana school districts have created or are exploring online schools that serve local students to bring in more money or to keep them from departing to other online schools. 

There鈥檚 also a much broader debate nationally within the school choice community about overseeing online schools as a way to earn money. 

That has flared up mostly with online charter schools, whose relationship with their authorizers is similar to Union鈥檚 with INLDS. of organizations that are supposed to make sure online schools are doing a good job but are also making more and more money if schools grow, even with poor results.

Oversight fees for online schools have since been a major controversy in several states, including California where , even when receiving fees that far exceeded what it cost to oversee the schools.

Though NACSA isn鈥檛 using such strident language today, it recommends that authorizers be paid only what it costs to oversee the schools, not a percentage of revenue. It also recommends that school districts should not authorize statewide virtual schools 鈥� a parallel to what Union and Clarksville are doing. Instead school districts should only oversee virtual schools serving students in their area.

Indiana state officials also have little confidence in after two virtual charter schools overseen by the 1,000-student Daleville school district were found in 2017 to be defrauding the state with inflated enrollment numbers. State and federal investigators have estimated the schools improperly received between $44 and $154 million and have pursued separate cases, both criminal and to recover money.

Most recently, the superintendent of the two schools as part of the case. Efforts to recover money are still ongoing.

Scott Bess, a state school board member and founder of the Indiana Charter Innovation Center, said he believes online schools can work well, but local school boards aren鈥檛 prepared to oversee giant virtual schools run by companies like Stride worth $3.5 billion.

鈥淚 would never advocate for a local school district to partner with a virtual school operator to run a large virtual operation, because that’s not what that school district does,鈥� said Bess. 鈥淭he school districts are set up to be local, community driven.鈥�

Applying that belief evenly, however, would put the state at odds with the Clarksville school district.

Clarksville also partners with Stride/K12 and the Indiana Gateway Digital School, is run by a family with political influence Union lacks. Clarksville’s superintendent Tina Bennett is the wife of Tony Bennett, the former state superintendent of Indiana and Florida. He was also an executive at Stride/K12 before retiring in March.

The Union School Corporation, which also includes a few other small towns, has long had a budget and enrollment problem. With few students and all separated by acres of crops, enrollment has always been low. And while it鈥檚 not quite a one-room schoolhouse it has one strip-mall style school building that houses district offices, its elementary school and combined junior/senior high school.

It has also almost shut down a few times.

The district has explored merging with other districts more than once, while the state has also debated ordering small districts to consolidate. Union鈥檚 future has been so uncertain, district officials and residents say, that parents have sometimes sent their children to other schools to avoid having to change schools later.

The partnership with K12, now Stride, changed that. The district added the online school as a district program, offering a few rooms in its offices as a base, in return for 5% of the e-school鈥檚 revenue.

The school isn鈥檛 a charter school, but the arrangement is similar to how online charter schools pay their authorizers, the non-profits that allow them to open as schools and then oversee them.

As the online school grew, the district鈥檚 budget improved and Mast, who just joined as superintendent a year ago, said the school uses the virtual school money to improve its facilities and special education classes.

Sarah McCord, the owner of the Modoc Diner down the street from the school campus, said she lives in a neighboring town but sends her two children to Union because it has small class sizes and helped her daughter with a learning disability improve rapidly.

鈥淎 lot of parents are choosing Union because of the attention that their children are getting without having to pay private school costs,鈥� McCord said.

She believes Union is taking unfair criticism for test scores because parents are sending their children for personal attention and a chance to catch up. If they improve, but don鈥檛 score at grade level, McCord said, the district looks bad and is unfairly targeted.

鈥淚 think it鈥檚 an injustice,鈥� she said.

A first-of-its-kind public Catholic school proposed for Oklahoma students is unconstitutional and can鈥檛 open, the state Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday, scuttling plans by the Catholic Archdiocese of Oklahoma this August to open a virtual K-12 charter school named for the patron saint of the internet.

St. Isidore of Seville Virtual Charter School was already recruiting staff and registering students, officials said earlier this month 鈥� and it was awaiting about $1.2 million in state funds, due next week. But in a closely watched 6-2 ruling, the state鈥檚 high court said the Statewide Virtual Charter School Board’s vote last year to approve the school violates both the Oklahoma and U.S. constitutions, as well as state law, which requires public schools to be nonsectarian.

“Enforcing the St. Isidore Contract would create a slippery slope and what the framers warned against 鈥� the destruction of Oklahomans’ freedom to practice religion without fear of governmental intervention,鈥� the justices wrote.

The court directed the board to rescind its contract with St. Isidore, but the case will almost certainly be appealed, possibly as far as the U.S. Supreme Court. 

In a , the Archdiocese said the ruling was 鈥渧ery disappointing for the hundreds of prospective students and their families from across the state鈥� hoping to attend the school this August.

The Archdiocese said it will consider its legal options, but that it remains committed to its belief that St. Isidore 鈥渃ould still be a valuable asset to students, regardless of socioeconomic, race or faith backgrounds.鈥�

It said the school has received 200-plus applications for admission.

Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond, who sued last October to stop the school from opening, said Tuesday鈥檚 decision was 鈥渁 tremendous victory for religious liberty,鈥� ensuring that Oklahomans 鈥渨ill not be compelled to fund radical religious schools that violate their faith.鈥�

The framers of both the U.S. and state constitutions 鈥渃learly understood how best to protect religious freedom,鈥� Drummond said: 鈥渂y preventing the State from sponsoring any religion at all. Now Oklahomans can be assured that our tax dollars will not fund the teachings of Sharia Law or even Satanism.鈥�

In a court hearing on the school in April, Drummond said members of Oklahoma鈥檚 Virtual Charter School Board 鈥渂etrayed their oath of office鈥� in June 2023, when they voted 3-2 to approve a charter with the Catholic church to open the school.

Drummond told the justices he couldn鈥檛 get behind the state鈥檚 plan to begin transferring public funds, in what would have been a matter of days, to St. Isidore. 鈥淥n July 1,鈥� he said, 鈥渨e will violate the law.鈥�

The attorney for the school said St. Isidore is a private entity, and signing a contract with the state did not turn it into a public one. 

It鈥檚 not clear what Tuesday鈥檚 ruling means for a second court case brought by a coalition of parents and advocates, including the ACLU, which is seeking to block the school from opening or receiving public funds. 

In that case, slated for a July 24 hearing in an Oklahoma County district court, opponents argue that the school will discriminate against LGBTQ students and those with disabilities, as well as families and staff who don鈥檛 follow Catholic teachings. 

Charters 鈥榤ay not be religious institutions鈥�

Tuesday鈥檚 ruling represents a huge, but perhaps temporary, victory for those who maintain that charter schools are public schools, subject to traditional separation of church and state.

Eric Paisner, acting CEO for the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, said the ruling affirmed 鈥渢he unconstitutionality of religious public schools,鈥� calling it 鈥渁 resounding victory for the integrity of public education鈥� that protects families鈥� constitutional rights.

, a law professor at the University of South Carolina, called the ruling 鈥渁 masterclass in cutting through the rhetoric that has muddied legal waters in recent years. The Court makes clear that charter schools are not private schools and must comply with the federal constitution like any other public school.鈥�

Black said the court also offered important historical nuance: While proponents of religious schools claim bans on funding them are born of 鈥渞eligious bigotry,鈥� he said the Oklahoma high court explained that Oklahoma鈥檚 original constitutional limit on funding religion 鈥渨as really an attempt to prevent government from sinking its teeth into religion.鈥�

Supporters of the school say that since it’s a school of choice, the state isn’t forcing any student to attend, so it isn’t establishing religion. And they maintain that public funding of charters can鈥檛 exclude religious schools.

Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt said government agencies 鈥渃an鈥檛 choose who gets state dollars based on a private entity鈥檚 religious status.鈥�

He said the decision 鈥渞estricts the choices available to Oklahomans,鈥� but that he remains 鈥渉opeful the U.S. Supreme Court will hear the case and grant St. Isidore the right to establish their school.鈥�

John Meiser, director of the Religious Liberty Clinic at Notre Dame Law School, which is representing St. Isidore in the lawsuit, said the school is considering its legal options. He said the court鈥檚 鈥渄ecision to condone unconstitutional discrimination against religious educators and the children they serve is one that the school will continue to fight.鈥�

St. Isidore, he said, 鈥渕erely seeks to join Oklahoma’s diverse array of charter schools, bringing educational choice and opportunity to communities and families in need.鈥�

The controversy over the school takes place amid a larger effort by Oklahoma officials to ensure that public school students whose parents approve receive religious instruction during the school day. Stitt earlier this month signed a law saying districts can allow students to take up to three religious-related classes each week and receive elective credit.

But Oklahoma State Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters, a supporter of the effort, has sought to cut access to such classes by non-traditional religious groups. He warned that the , which plans to make its available to students, is not welcome. In 2019, the Internal Revenue Service granted the temple tax-exempt status, but Walters has said he doesn鈥檛 consider satanism a religion.

In a statement, Walters said the high court 鈥済ot it wrong,鈥� misunderstanding key cases involving the First Amendment and discrimination against Christians based on their faith. 鈥淥klahomans have demanded school choice, not religious targeting,鈥� he wrote.

Walters said contracting with a charter school doesn鈥檛 violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, adding that enrollment demand for St. Isidore proves that Oklahoma parents 鈥渨ant more choices for their kids鈥� educations 鈥� not fewer.鈥�

74 senior writer Linda Jacobson contributed to this report.

English Classical and its imitators proudly proclaimed their ability to prepare students for new jobs in emerging, high-tech industries such as banking, manufacturing and railroads. 

It鈥檚 just over 200 years later, and high schools have opened their doors to all teens, not just boys. But with technological disruptions daily changing our conception of what a well-educated young person looks like, Americans are again clamoring for innovative secondary schools that help them make sense of these changes. They鈥檙e looking, above all, for institutions that leave behind many of the traditions of the past in favor of offerings that promise to help their kids get a strong start. 

Since last spring, journalists at 蜜桃影视 have been crossing the U.S. as part of our 2023 High School Road Trip. It has embraced both emerging and established high school models, taking us to 13 schools from Rhode Island to California, Arizona to South Carolina, and in between. 

It has brought us face-to-face with innovation, with programs that promote everything from nursing to aerospace to maritime-themed careers.

At each school, educators seem to be asking one key question: What if we could start over and try something totally new?

What we鈥檝e found represents just a small sample of the incredible diversity that U.S. high schools now offer, but we鈥檙e noticing a few striking similarities that educators in these schools, free to experiment with new models, now share. Here are the top eight:

1

They don’t worry about what came before.

In these places, high school looks almost nothing like it did for our parents or grandparents. 

While the seven-period, books-in-a-locker high school, with its comprehensive curriculum, vast extracurriculars and Friday night football games is alive and well and available to most of the nation鈥檚 17 million or so high schoolers, it is no longer the default model. 

Instead, thousands of young people now attend high school each morning in facilities that more closely resemble workplaces, professional training grounds and research labs. Quite often, young people are in actual workplaces for part of their school day, either as apprentices or taking part in something resembling career tourism, trying out jobs to see what fires their imaginations and fits their tastes.

2

They focus intently on exactly what their students need.

Most of these schools are small by design, so the traditional mission of serving thousands of students with countless courses 鈥� as well as the requisite menu of after-school activities, such as sports, music, and drama 鈥� is out of the question. 

In its place, many new schools now offer one key thing: focus. Intense, unrelenting focus.

At Rhode Island Nurses Institute Middle College in Providence, R.I., students show up for class each morning dressed in scrubs. They spend four years learning the bedrock values and basic skills of the nursing profession, earning college credit before they graduate.

The school鈥檚 laser-like focus is perhaps its greatest strength, said Principal Tammy Ferland, a veteran educator. 鈥淭his is a health care program, a nursing program,鈥� she said. 鈥淚f you don鈥檛 want to be a nurse, if you don鈥檛 want to be in health care, then you don鈥檛 belong here.鈥�

Students can still play sports or perform in the band 鈥� they just need to find those things at their neighborhood school or elsewhere 鈥攁fter they remove their scrubs.

The same focus is on display at Urban Assembly New York Harbor School on Governors Island, a ferry ride south of Manhattan, where the East River meets the Hudson. Students must choose among eight maritime-themed career and technical education pathways before they close out their freshman year. 

Clad in life vests, protective goggles and welders鈥� masks, students get a chance to earn industry certifications in marine science or technology before graduation 鈥� bona fides that help them enter the workforce or pursue further education. 

Most of its students come to the program with an interest in marine biology research, environmental science and aquaculture. And while many pursue these fields, others migrate to ocean engineering, professional diving and even vessel operations. 

3

They embrace internships and personalization.

Many of these new high school models focus less on one industry than on imparting what students need to know about the modern workplace more broadly, through intensive, often personalized, coursework and professional internships. 

At Blue Valley Center for Advanced Professional Studies in Overland Park, KS, students spend about three hours a day working with professionals in one of six industries, from food science to aerospace engineering. 

Housed in a light-filled, three story building that more closely resembles a high-tech office, the program enjoys support from the local school district, which created it as a half-day program that serves only juniors and seniors. 

Students return to their neighborhood high school for required coursework. For accreditation purposes, the district treats the entire enterprise as a class.

鈥淏lue Valley CAPS treated me like a working adult,鈥� said alumna Sophia Porter, who now holds dual degrees in physics and applied mathematics and statistics from Johns Hopkins University and serves as a project manager and test operator for BE-4 engines at the Texas aerospace company Blue Origin.

At The Metropolitan Regional Career and Technical Center in Providence, students spend much of what would typically be class time working on personalized projects prescribed by advisors, who follow small groups of just 16 students throughout their high school career, intimately learning about their interests and academic needs. Students also spend much of their four-year career in a series of bespoke internships at local businesses, nonprofits and educational institutions. 

Founded in 1996, The Met is renowned among a brand of progressive educators seeking to create small, personalized high schools around students鈥� passions and interests. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 what the Met taught me,鈥� said Jordan Maddox, class of 2007. 鈥淒on鈥檛 really limit yourself.鈥�

Maddox admits he initially didn鈥檛 quite know what to make of the place. 鈥淚 remember telling my mother, 鈥楳om, this is a daycare for high school students.鈥� And she was like, 鈥楪ive it a chance. Give it time.鈥欌��

These schools also offer a kind of freedom and agency to students that would have been unheard of to their parents.

At One Stone, a tiny private high school near downtown Boise, Idaho, students are deputized to run much of the operation, serving as officers of the board and filling two-thirds of board positions overall.

鈥淎 lot of people don鈥檛 believe that high school students can do meaningful, big things,鈥� said Teresa Poppen, One Stone鈥檚 executive director and co-founder. 鈥淎nd I have always believed that they can do meaningful things when empowered and trusted.鈥�

Or, as recent graduate Abella Cathey put it, 鈥淏eing treated like an adult is what makes you act like one.鈥�

4

They prepare young people for jobs in emerging industries.

Just as the first public high school offered to educate young people to compete in the high-tech industries of the era, the new breed of high school offers the same promise, only in medicine, aerospace and tech-assisted agriculture.

In Lodi, Calif., as the number of wineries begins to match its status as a major grape-growing powerhouse, the nonprofit San Joaquin A+ has partnered with the Lodi Unified School District and others to create an internship pipeline that gives students real-life learning and experiences across a variety of roles in the winemaking industry.

The partnership turns rural wineries into state-of-the-art classrooms where students spend time inspecting vines, cleaning storage tanks with pressure washers, and setting up tasting. In the end, they learn about the whole business: growing grapes, making wine and selling it.

Across the country, at Anderson Institute of Technology in western South Carolina, students from three districts now get real-world experience early on in their educational careers in preparation for jobs at companies like Bosch, Michelin and Arthrex.

Much like the Blue Valley model, students take core classes at their home high schools, and then commute to AIT to take classes like aeronautics, auto shop, and medicine. They work both in traditional classrooms and 鈥渓abs鈥� that mimic real-world work environments 鈥� an automotive garage, aerospace engineering lab or a surgery room.

鈥淚t鈥檚 all about giving kids a purpose in life,鈥� said Don Herriott, a local business owner. 

5

They鈥檙e rethinking what classrooms, campuses and school days look like.

In many new schools, such personalization takes place among new campus facilities, but in others, students navigate between several physical and virtual sites to attend class 鈥� sometimes all in the same day.

In Arizona, the 86 students who attend Phoenix Union City High School choose from a menu of some 500 options that include coursework at the district鈥檚 brick-and-mortar schools, its online-only program, internships, jobs, college classes or career training programs.

鈥淭he pandemic gave us an entree,鈥� said Chad Gestson, until recently the system鈥檚 superintendent. 鈥淚t enabled us to go to a system with no limits.鈥�

Phoenix Union now operates four small high schools with specific themes, including law enforcement, firefighting, coding and cybersecurity. This fall, Phoenix Educator Preparatory welcomed its first students. It also operates standalone 鈥渕icroschools鈥� housed in existing high schools 鈥� they include a program aimed at students working toward admission to highly selective colleges. 

6

They redefine who high school is for.

Just as many schools now redefine what kind of space a high school should occupy, others are rethinking their customer base.

At Roybal Learning Center鈥檚 new film and television production magnet high school in Los Angeles, show business industry professionals last fall put up millions to launch a program to give Black, Hispanic and Asian students a pathway into good-paying jobs in the movie industry, helping them become 鈥減art of the machinery of storytelling,鈥� said Bryan Lourd, an executive at Creative Artists Agency and the agent of actor George Clooney, a key supporter. 

The school plans to match students with mentors in the industry and eventually develop an apprenticeship program to offer early experience in their chosen field. The goal, said Deborah Marcus, who manages education efforts at Creative Artists Agency, is for graduates to not only land their first job on a crew, but their second and third as well.

7

They serve students of color in a more supportive way.

At New York鈥檚 Brooklyn Lab School, social workers visited nearly 100 homes to find students as absenteeism soared after the Covid pandemic.

More than three years later, each Lab School student now has a personal advocate, an advisor who starts each day with a non-academic meeting to build relationships and discuss health or current events over free breakfast.

Two teachers now lead each class, at least one of whom is special education certified, as the school adopts an all-inclusion-model. 

Morning office hours and a six-week night school offer more chances for students to bridge academic gaps made worse by the pandemic. And teachers are paid to lead and attend professional development sessions. Roughly 80% are Black or brown, serving about 450 students who are predominantly Black, Latino and low-income. 

鈥淲hen you鈥檙e a school of this size, you have the ability to respond and cater to the community that you鈥檙e serving, and be more personable with the families that you meet, the people that you work with, and the staff that you hire,鈥� said assistant principal Melissa Poux.

8

They cut through traditional structures to find what works.

Perhaps most significantly, many high school programs are finding new ways to serve at-risk students.

For many, what they need most is more time to grow. At New York City鈥檚 Math, Engineering, and Science Academy Charter High School, recent graduates are paid $500 to participate in a six-week 鈥�13th grade鈥� Alumni Lab that offers resume writing, interview support and sessions exploring growth mindset, self-awareness and making goals 鈥� skills that help young people, particularly alumni of color, work through feelings of inadequacy, shame, or feeling like an imposter. 

鈥淟ife has not gone as they were led to believe it would,鈥� said MESA鈥檚 co-executive director and co-founder Arthur Samuels. 鈥溾�ou have all of these kids who are not tethered to any institution, but the institution that they are tethered to is their high school. We need to leverage that relationship.鈥� 

The program last spring wrapped up its third cohort, with 71% of participants matriculating back to college or into a free workforce development program.

Schools, Samuels said, 鈥渃reate this artificial bright line that happens on the day of graduation: June 23, you鈥檙e our kid. June 24, we give you a diploma and you鈥檙e someone else鈥檚 problem.鈥� 

At Goodwill Excel Center Adult Charter High School in Washington, D.C., part of a network of Goodwill schools for adult learners nationwide, educators have compressed the traditional 20-week semester into a rolling series of eight-week terms. Coursework is based on competency, not seat time, and four assessments over the course of each term keep students on track.

But those who don鈥檛 succeed, even with individualized tutoring, can simply start over again at the end of eight weeks. Students with heavy work or family commitments can stay enrolled by taking just one class per term.

鈥淲e like to put high school dropouts into a box and say, 鈥楾his is why they鈥檙e a dropout,鈥欌�� said Excel鈥檚 Executive Director, Chelsea Kirk. 鈥淏ut we don鈥檛 ever think about what structures caused that. We don鈥檛 ever think about 鈥楬ow could a school change its structures to embrace people?鈥�

鈥� James Fields, Beth Hawkins, Linda Jacobson, Marianna McMurdock and Jo Napolitano contributed to this report.

]]> /article/exclusive-data-freshmen-held-back-during-pandemic-fuel-bulge-in-9th-grade-enrollment/ Mon, 09 May 2022 11:15:00 +0000 /?post_type=article&p=588943 Learn4Life, a national charter school network, typically serves older teens who are struggling to make up enough credits to graduate. But when a new site opened in San Antonio this school year, Principal Crissy Franco got an unusual number of registration requests from 14- and 15-year-olds.

They included ninth graders who didn鈥檛 earn any credits in their first semester and those who should have been in 10th grade, but were out of school for a year.

鈥淵ou don鈥檛 normally refer younger kids to dropout recovery,鈥� Franco said. 鈥淪ome of them are like, 鈥榃hat鈥檚 a credit?鈥欌�� 

Those students who were held back are among the reasons Texas saw a 9% increase in its freshman class this year, more than four times the state鈥檚 annual growth rate prior to the pandemic. 

That pattern has been demonstrated in more than a dozen states, according to enrollment data compiled by Burbio, an information services company, and shared exclusively with 蜜桃影视.

The new data, from 35 states and the District of Columbia, adds to the complicated picture of students鈥� comings and goings during the COVID era. With many young children who delayed pre-K and kindergarten during school closures now flooding back into the education system, an enrollment surge in the early grades was expected. But 15 states and D.C. saw growth in ninth grade of at least 5% compared to 2020-21, and in a few states, including New Mexico and North Carolina, the increase in freshmen far outpaced that of kindergartners. 

While the return of families to public schools contributed to growth in ninth grade this year, retention rates have nearly doubled in some states and districts, and educators don鈥檛 expect next year to be much better. 

鈥淲e鈥檙e a generation that鈥檚 going to have people with two-year holes in their education,鈥� said Jeffrey Cole, principal at Winston County High, a rural Alabama school about midway between Huntsville and Birmingham.

If freshmen only fail two quarters, Cole usually moves them on to 10th grade. But for the first time in his 19 years as principal, he has students failing all four quarters. He thinks they should have stayed in eighth grade. Across the state, enrollment in ninth grade has jumped at a much higher rate than before the pandemic.

Districts often see a 鈥渂ulge鈥� in freshman year when students don鈥檛 pass enough classes to move on, said Eric Wearne, director of the Education Economics Center at Kennesaw State University, outside Atlanta. But he added it鈥檚 not a surprise COVID disruptions and remote learning made matters much worse.

鈥淪tudents were in ninth grade,鈥� he said, 鈥渁nd the COVID situation was so tough that more of them than usual didn’t earn enough credits to be considered 10^th graders yet.”

Retention data in some states and districts back that up. Figures from last fall show that 18% of ninth graders in the Houston Independent School District repeated the year, significantly higher than the district鈥檚 pre-pandemic rate of 10%. And in North Carolina, more than 16% of last year鈥檚 freshman class was retained 鈥� roughly double the rate of past years. District officials from rural Maryland to Albuquerque, New Mexico, also saw higher retention rates this year.

The majority of states where ninth grade enrollment surpassed 5% are concentrated in the South, where they have 鈥渨ell-defined promotion criteria鈥� for freshmen, such as end-of-course exams, explained Robert Balfanz, who directs the Everyone Graduates Center at Johns Hopkins University. Such policies were widely implemented in the early 2000s at the start of the accountability-driven No Child Left Behind era, but have since been suspended in many states.

What hasn鈥檛 changed, he said, is that students still need to earn enough credits to graduate.

鈥淚t鈥檚 the long tail of the pandemic,鈥� he said. 鈥淭his will impact graduation rates three years from now.”

He added that during remote learning, high school students were more likely to have assignments without live instruction and had to 鈥渟elf-manage getting the work done.鈥� With many high schools canceling orientation in the fall of 2020, he said rising ninth graders might not have fully understood the consequences of failing a class.

鈥楩ell off the radar鈥�

The retention increase is one example of how the pandemic has altered existing patterns that enrollment forecasters use to help districts plan for the future. In his work with school districts, Jerry Oelerich, a senior analyst at the consulting company Flo-Analytics, accounts for the fact that 2007 鈥� when most of this year鈥檚 ninth graders were born 鈥� was a for births. That alone, however, doesn鈥檛 fully explain the big increases some states are seeing in ninth grade, Oelerich said. 

Private school enrollment and also grew last year. But students often return to traditional high schools to play sports. And many parents decide they鈥檙e not cut out to teach high schoolers. 

鈥淭heir expertise kind of runs out,鈥� said Kent Martin, a senior analyst at Flo-Analytics and a former teacher and administrator in Washington state. 鈥淵ou really need to be a content expert, like a teacher.鈥�

Ronn Nozoe, CEO at the National Association of Secondary School Principals, said it makes sense that with schools predominantly open this year, families who opted for private schools would return and 鈥渟ave their money.鈥�

鈥淭here are a lot of kids who fell off the radar,鈥� Nozoe said. 鈥淚f you鈥檙e going to move back in, you want to start that in ninth 鈥� not 10th, 11th or 12th.鈥�

That鈥檚 what Virginia mother Kate O鈥橦arra decided after she pulled her son Jack Mulhall out of the Loudoun County district last year and enrolled him in Stride (formerly K12), a national network of virtual schools, for eighth grade. 

鈥淗e didn鈥檛 do terrible,鈥� even though O鈥橦arra, a pilates instructor, and her husband, an IT professional, weren鈥檛 always available to help him with schoolwork. When schools closed, Jack was on his way to overcoming some of the scatteredness that comes with his ADHD. But the district’s remote learning program, which O’Harra described as “a complete and utter failure,” interrupted that progress.

鈥淲e were in a good place pre-COVID. Now it鈥檚 all over the map.鈥�

The affluent suburb has been at the center of several over the rights of transgender students and the use of so-called 鈥渃ritical race theory.鈥� But Jack鈥檚 desire to return to school with his friends and her wish for a normal school structure convinced O鈥橦arra to return to the district for ninth grade.

Still, the move hasn鈥檛 solved everything for Jack, now at Woodgrove High School. 

鈥淲e went into 9^th grade very unprepared,鈥� said his mother, adding that after a year of remote learning, he struggles with some social cues, like not knowing how to take a joke. 

Jack said his only contact with friends during eighth grade was playing 鈥淐all of Duty,鈥� and the one person he met virtually through Stride was his math teacher. He鈥檚 still missing some organizational skills and fell behind in Spanish and earth science. He鈥檒l start next year with a tutor.

鈥淚 didn鈥檛 really have assignments for science [in eighth grade]. I was left drifting without any knowledge,鈥� he said. But back in a traditional school, Jack plays football and lacrosse and said, 鈥淚 can actually see and talk to my teachers in real life.鈥� 

Nationwide in Stride dropped slightly this year 鈥� down to 187,000 from 189,400 last year, but still well above the pre-pandemic figure of about 123,000. 

Virtual programs are another reason some district鈥檚 ninth grade classes are swelling. The Mecklenburg County Public Schools in Virginia, a rural district not far from the North Carolina state line, offered a virtual option through Stride so parents still concerned about COVID wouldn鈥檛 withdraw their children to homeschool and the district wouldn鈥檛 lose funding. 

The virtual program boosted ninth grade enrollment from 337 in 2020-21 to 609 this year. But Superintendent Paul Nichols has regrets and suggested that remote instruction shares some of the blame for students veering off track.

鈥淲e will offer no virtual education options for students next year,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e are concerned that most of them have not completed much, if any, actual academic work.鈥�

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