D300 Mulls Second Online Charter School Proposal

The District 300 Board of Education Monday wrestled with a new request to authorize an online charter school even as Superintendent Michael Bregy prepared to defend a turndown of a similar-sounding proposal last month. Northern Kane Educational Corp., operator of D300's Cambridge Lakes Charter School, asked the Board to OK a new application for an arm to be called the Illinois Online Charter School.

The name makes the new proposal sound a lot like the one for The Illinois Virtual Charter School @ Fox River Valley (sic) which the Board--and 17 others--rejected last month. The group wanted to create an online-only charter school for students in districts from Carpentersville to Yorkville. Bregy will be in Chicago Wednesday to ask the State Charter School Commission not to overturn the decisions.? "They appealed all 18 of them," he told FEN.

Larry Fuhrer, Northern Kane Educational Corp.'s CEO, said his group's proposal was different, though.? The Virtual Charter proposal would have forced school districts to pay for online home instruction but Fuhrer said his Online Charter proposal would involve Internet instruction as an augmentation in regular classrooms. Kane Educational Corp. has been using "blended learning" at Cambridge Lakes for two years, Fuhrer said.? "The program has had a profound effect," said Fuhrer, so profound that Northern Kane wants to sell it to other school districts.

Fine, was the broad Board reaction.? "Why are you not out in Geneva or Naperville or Plainfield?" asked President Anne Miller.? "Why do we want another charter that does nothing for our students?"

Fuhrer replied Northern Kane could offer its blended learning program through the Board's existing Cambridge Lakes charter but a new one would be administratively "cleaner".? And it would benefit D300 students, too, he said, since Kane would have a new revenue stream.? "We took a hit in tuition," Fuhrer said, a painful one since, "We don't have [tax] levy authority."

Board member Chris Stanton was still reluctant.? "Maybe we need to help you as a reference," he suggested, when Kane pitches its blended learning to other school districts.

The Board went into closed session to consider the request but said they wouldn't make a decision until later.? State law gives them 30 days to make one.

Separately, the Board set June 24 for public hearings on amendments to D300's current budget and a new one for next year.? Changes to the 2012-13 budget are pro-forma since the fiscal year runs out June 30.? CFO Susan Harkin said this year will end up about $750,000 in the red thanks to a new teachers' contract hammered out in December.? The budget for the coming year will run red, too, she said.? "We'll have a deficit budget for the next couple of years until the [extra money from the Sears Economic Development Area] comes through," said Harkin.

In the pic:? Northern Kane Educational Corp. CEO Larry Fuhrer told the D300 Board of Ed that online "blended learning" at the Cambridge Lakes charter school had boosted some kids' performance three grade levels.

Source: http://www.firstelectricnewspaper.com/2013/05/d300-mulls-second-online-charter-school.html

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