Wisconsin enacts law to keep cyber schools open
Gov. Jim Doyle has signed a bill that ensures virtual schools qualify for state aid but caps enrollment and subjects those schools to a program audit. The new law guarantees the online schools can open this fall. Their future was in doubt after an appeals court ruled in December that one school did not qualify for state aid of $5,845 per student. Under the legislation, the Legislative Audit Bureau must submit a report by Dec. 30, 2009, detailing the aid paid to the schools compared with the cost of educating their students; the achievement of students in virtual schools compared with traditional public schools; and the pupil-teacher contact in both types of schools.
Source: Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, 4/7/08, By Patrick Marley & Stacy Forster
[Editor’s Note: Background on the legislation and the court ruling that prompted is below at the first link, and additional details on the new law and virtual schools are provided at the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (WDPI) link.]
NSBA School Law pages on virtual school legislation
WDPI on virtual schools