The same can be applied to educational systems.

Providing alternatives that create competition for traditional public schools is but one of the compelling reasons Virginia should consider school choice, a movement that would help parents select the best option for their children’s education, particularly those who are frustrated by declining or stagnant performance at their local schools.

The traditional model, in which government provides everyone with a “free education” generously underwritten by the taxpayers, might be sufficient if school performance were consistently high, most dollars were devoted to direct instruction, and the best teachers were rewarded and the weakest let go.

But that isn’t the case today.

And throwing more money at the problem — which we’ve continued to do even though it hasn’t worked — is impractical due to falling state tax revenues and reductions in federal support.

Many states are by necessity undertaking reforms aimed at correcting the deeply entrenched obstacles to improvement by adopting merit pay and contractual review policies and by reducing non-instructional budgets. Gov. McDonnell has pushed for such improvements in the current legislative session.

Improving efficiency and shoring up quality and accountability at existing schools has to be at the forefront of Virginia’s educational reforms. But school choice could be an important component, as well.

School choice includes a range of options, both public and private. Public school choices include charter schools, magnet schools and open enrollment plans that allow students to choose among multiple schools within a district or region. Private school options include faith-based and other private schools supported by tuition and donations, virtual schools and home schools.

For the rest of the article, go to An arguement for school choice 

“Sometimes I’ll study in the morning and I’ll do a few classes and then I’ll go to ballet for maybe, like, three or four hours and I’ll come back home and do some more,” she said.

An estimated quarter of a million students in Kindergarten through 12th grade were enrolled in full-time online schools last year, a 25 percent increase over the previous year. K12 Inc., a for-profit company, runs many of the programs, contracting with school districts that receive state aid for online education.

For the rest of the article, go to Online K-12 schooling on the rise

International e-learning consumers, by contrast, are approaching American virtual providers because they represent not an alternative to traditional American education, but an extension of it.

For the rest of the article, go to U.S. Virtual Ed. Companies Court Global Clients

Katerina is one of a growing number of students who go to school online full time. About a quarter of a million students in kindergarten through 12th grade were enrolled in full-time online schools last year, according to the International Association for K-12 Online Learning, a 25% increase over the previous year. Some parents choose these schools because their children are struggling in traditional schools; others do so for their flexible schedules.

For the rest of the article, go to Virtual schools on the rise, but are they right for K-12 students?

Equity in Virginia’s public school system starts with choice and competition. In fact, both sides of the aisle agree that choice and competition enhance our system rather than erode it.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg is focusing on teacher tenure and performance pay in New York City. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie are working on similar matters.

Leading this charge in 2010, Virginia’s Gov. Bob McDonnell championed three initiatives to enrich public education: a charter school reform, the creation of virtual schools and a college laboratory partnership measure.

For the rest of the article, go to Peace: Equity in education transforms public schools

Particularly noteworthy is the governor’s aim to empower parents by giving them more educational choices. He would give tax credits to businesses that provide scholarships for children from low-income families to attend private schools, would encourage virtual schools as a new approach to learning and would provide more support to charter schools. The Republican governor is to be commended for aligning himself with President Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan in his support of charters, but we wish he had gone further in removing the barriers that have made Virginia so inhospitable to charters. The governor’s plan would establish a technical advisory committee to help charter-school applicants develop their plans and ensure they get a fair share of public resources, but it does not break the stranglehold that local school divisions have in authorizing start-up of charters.

For the rest of the article, go to The governor’s education plan for Virginia

Online learning providers won’t agree with the projected 35% savings. They would say that with staffing ratios not all that different from traditional schools there is some opportunity for cost savings — maybe half of what Parthenon came up with.

For the rest of the article, go to Is Online Learning One Third Cheaper?

Virtual schools. The governor proposed establishing an alternative licensure route for virtual-school teachers and said he wants new regulations for accrediting full-time virtual schools.

Dual enrollment. The governor wants to tweak the law to allow high school students to work toward an associate’s degree.

For the rest of the article, go to McDonnell proposes repealing ‘Kings Dominion law,’ teacher tenure in schools plan

While the idea of geo­thermal energy was appealing, both school divisions found that the retrofit costs varied widely because of the various designs of existing buildings.

Greenwood Christian Academy merged its two schools into one at Williamsburg Crossing to cut costs.

For the rest of the article, go to Up and down year for area schools

virtual courses

The state must confront the growing problem with its retirement system. Over the past few months the “unfunded” portion of the retirement system has grown from $17 billion to close to $20 billion, according to a recent JLARC study. The Thomas Jefferson Institute suggested in its own study this past summer that our state implement a hybrid program that combines parts of the current defined-benefits program with a more realistic 21st century defined-contributions program. As mentioned earlier, limiting future growth of state spending to an inflation/population formula and earmarking part of any excess funds to fill the hole in the retirement program makes good sense.

For transportation, the governor, secretary of transportation and General Assembly should go on record requesting that Virginia become a test case for changing the way federal transportation monies are used. A U.S. House Transportation Committee study about 15 years ago showed that one dollar of federal transportation construction money increased the cost of a project by 30-40 percent. Virginia should ask that all federal transportation money come in a block grant only used for major construction projects, thus freeing up state and local funds for all other projects. This would have the same impact as a transportation tax increase of 30-40 percent without raising taxes. Using government money in this way could have a huge impact on our transpiration needs.

For the rest of the article, go to General Assembly: A blueprint for fixing Virginia