Internet schools rake in the profits

I have the solution for every school in Ohio struggling with finances.
Become a "cyberschool."
"There are regulations in place to prohibit that," one state official informed me.
I bet there are!
Cyberschools are an entrepreneurs dream.
Cyberschools getsame funding
For every pupil entering a cyberschool -- which, by the way, consists of turning on a computer -- the private, for-profit management firm receives a flat rate of $5,058 from the state.
That's the amount of money the state has determined that it takes to educate a child every year.
Sounds fair enough.
Except for the fact that the equation is different for actual school systems with actual teachers and buildings.
When the state gives a school district $5,058 per pupil, the district never actually sees that amount. Ironically, that number is more of a "cyber" figure.
Subtracted from that amount are the local property valuations that it takes a rocket scientist to understand. (The same equation that was deemed unconstitutional by the Ohio Supreme Court more than 10 years ago.)
Comparison withother schools
The result is that a cyberschool receives $5,058 per pupil regardless. An actual school with pupils who actually attend classes in an actual school building, may only receive $1,100 per pupil from the state or, if the school district is lucky, it may get $3,200 per pupil.
So, while public school districts are struggling to educate the children who actually attend class in this state, these privately run, for-profit cyberschools are raking in the cash.
There are no buildings to maintain, no buses to repair, no cafeteria to stock and no teachers to pay.
The administrators of these schools are not even required to be licensed educators.
Perhaps that's why last year, Ohio's largest cyberschool, the Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow, was placed in "academic emergency" by the state after meeting only one of the 22 state targets on its school report card.
Their shining accomplishment? Attendance.
Am I missing something here? It's a cyberschool!
"We never chose to support this," says J.C. Benton, spokesperson for the Ohio Board of Education. "We believed the concept needed to be studied more in-depth."
But cyberschools fall under the same regulations as charter schools, so the board's hands are tied.
"Charter schools are very much like a private business," Benton explains. "They are monitored by the state auditor."
Though auditors are very good in math, maintaining a standard of excellence in education is not their area of expertise.
$61 million spent'educating' pupils
The most sickening part of this cyberschool debacle is that Ohio spent $61 million dollars "educating" pupils in cyberschools last year.
That $61 million dollars would have gone a long way for the public school districts of this state struggling to pay their teachers and maintain their buildings.
It's time for Ohio to get its head out of cyberspace and deal with the issue of school funding.
Do we want our children to be educated by for-profit entities that may or may not be run by licensed educators?
Every official in every school district in the state has got to be asking themselves why they are bothering with all the hassles and problems of dealing with pupils every day.
Public schools dream oftechnology purchases
With $5,058 per pupil and no overhead, they could buy every pupil a computer (something public school districts can only dream of doing as there is virtually no state funding for technology) and spend the rest of the cash "monitoring" their cyberpupils while in, say, Bermuda.
Of course, there's really no need to monitor these diligent, promising leaders of tomorrow.
Statistics have proved, cyberpupils show up for class every day.
gwhite@vindy.com