![]() ![]() Jerry Brown appointed him to the post in 2011. Michael Kirst, president of the State Board of Education, worked for K12 as a consultant before Gov.School districts that are supposed to oversee the company’s schools have a strong financial incentive to turn a blind eye to problems: They get a cut of the academies’ revenue, which largely comes from state coffers.About half of the schools’ students are not proficient in reading, and only a third are proficient in math - levels that fall far below statewide averages.Students who spend as little as one minute during a school day logged on to K12’s school software may be counted as present in records used to calculate the amount of funding the schools get from the state.To understand how the network of online academies operates, this newspaper reviewed hundreds of pages of education and tax records, examined complaints filed with public agencies and lawsuits, and interviewed dozens of parents, teachers and students affiliated, or once affiliated, with the schools. That means California children who live almost anywhere south of Humboldt County can sign up for one of K12’s schools. Under state law, each academy may enroll students who live in adjoining counties. The company opened its first California Virtual Academies in San Diego, Kern and Tuolumne counties 14 years ago and has watched enrollment in the 17 schools it operates grow from several hundred students in 2002 to more than 15,000 today. secretary of education under President Ronald Reagan, with seed money from Oracle chief executive Larry Ellison and disgraced junk bond king Michael Milken. K12 was launched in 2000 by Ronald Packard, a former Goldman Sachs banker, and William Bennett, U.S. “This company has shown an inordinate level of failure, yet it’s continually given lifelines by policymakers who have irresponsibly ignored what’s going on,” said Luis Huerta, a Columbia University associate professor of education and public policy who is one of the nation’s leading experts on online education. The result - according to an extensive review of complaints, company records, tax filings and state education data - is that children and taxpayers are being cheated as the company takes advantage of a systemic breakdown in oversight by local school districts and state bureaucrats. In California, however, those students make up a tiny fraction of K12’s enrollment. ![]() Launched with fanfare and promise, online schools such as K12 are compiling a spotty record nationwide, but highly motivated students with strong parental support can succeed in them. Elizabeth Novak-Galloway, 12, who used to be an A student, received Cs because she was missing work she never knew had been assigned, her mother said. (Dai Sugano, Bay Area News Group)Īn investigation of K12-run charter schools by this newspaper also reveals that teachers have been asked to inflate attendance and enrollment records used to determine taxpayer funding. The growing network of online academies, operated by a Virginia company traded on Wall Street called K12 Inc., is failing key tests used to measure educational success.įewer than half of the students who enroll in the online high schools earn diplomas, and almost none of them are qualified to attend the state’s public universities. ![]() Thousands of California families, supported with hundreds of millions in state education dollars, have bought in.īut the Silicon Valley-influenced endeavor behind the lofty claims is leading a dubious revolution. The TV ads pitch a new kind of school where the power of the Internet allows gifted and struggling students alike to “work at the level that’s just right for them” and thrive with one-on-one attention from teachers connecting through cyberspace. ![]()
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