Public schools need some competition to sharpen their sword. Let the games begin! If school districts had the same competition that industry does, they would look for ways to improve and cut the fat....From a long-time public school teacher.

So what exactly is the problem? The unions are just mad that money will be taken away from their pockets. Why do they think people are interested in this school? So what if it is a for profit? Ever been to the DMV? Government run anything is a joke! They want people to have no other choice for a "public education". Sure, if you can afford it, you can send your children to a private school. But for those who cannot, they are at the mercy of the public school.
I know a family whose children are in Batavia public schools, and their high school freshman child is doing the same thing in English class that my 4th grade homeschool child is doing. Pathetic!
I am not glorifying this charter school, BUT, what a great opportunity for parents to have an option who may not otherwise.

If you want your child to have a 'private' education, do what other parents have done - pay for it yourself. For-profit education seems to be something of an oxymoron in the K through 12 world. Your so-called school can make a profit OR provide an education but not both. I don't want my tax money going for vouchers for parochial schools and want even less to see it go to CEO's who are compensated in the millions to run a student mill. Call me old-fashioned.

I'm with Jim Ryan. Additionally, charter and private schools can pick and choose their students. I imagine that makes it much easier to make your test scores look good.

R G
I have a vested interest in my tax dollars not going to religious institutions/teachings. The problem with vouchers is that my secular money can be used for non-secular purposes. If you want your children to partake of a parochial education, open your wallet, not mine. It's called choice.
I also have no fear of parochial schools. Along with my four siblings, I went from Kindergarten through senior year in the Catholic parochial system.

RG...why don't you attend the informational meeting this Sunday 2;00-5:00 at the First Congregational Church, 321 Hamilton in Geneva?? You'll probably find out how these publicly funded, but privately run schools eliminate unwanted students. Then you'll know how your tax dollar works. You'll also learn that if the student is enrolled in the K12 and decides he wants to return to the public school to be with his friends, that money stays with the Charter School for the rest of the year....and the public school ends up with the student w/o those tax dollars. AND...if you ever complained about the salary of Superintendents, you'll really go crazy with the CEOs salary...thanks to you, he makes MILLIONS. Charter virtual schools are not interested in your child, they are only looking at the bottom line. Know why? Because Charter Schools are run like businesses, teacher makes peanuts w/o any benefits AND they are on call 24/7. Everytime the kid turns on the computer, the teacher has to be available! No time to call your own. Sounds like slavery to me. But don't worry, because Mr. Corporation will take care of everything!

RG no one would be forced to attend, just forced to let them steal money from our public schools.

I'm skeptical of the K12 program and plan to learn more going forward.

What I would like however is a real price mechanism in place where purchasers of education services can choose from several providers and pay for value received.

Without choice and competition for taxpayer education dollars, history shows that there is little motivation for change or real improvement in outcomes.

The Friedman Foundation (which can be found at edchoice.org) is an interesting resource for School Choice information.

Education itself is on the brink of a technological revolution that will change virtually everything about how it is done. Along with the potential for great success in truly being able to meet the needs of each individual student and of our rapidly changing career outlook comes the risk of people who will try to exploit these changes in order to make a quick buck. We need to be very careful.

It is my belief that the only way that they will succeed in manipulating us is if our own public schools do not embrace the revolution and lead the way into the inevitable future themselves. We can, and certainly must do this in order to remain relevant over the next 20 or 30 years.

I serve on the advisory board of a private school that is doing just that. Two years ago every student and faculty member was issued an iPad and an account with iTunes University, the Khan Academy, and other resources. What the students and teachers have accomplished together in these past two years is astounding, and they are just getting started.

Several weeks ago they held a conference to share their progress with other educators. It was attended by more than 100 people from three states; all that I spoke to were very enthusiastic. I am not aware of anyone from this area that attended.

We either get on board or get left behind. This train has left the station and is moving pretty fast.

IEA is a political PR machine promoting pension using radio commericals.

Education needs efficiency as well as quality. Competition typcially brings not only quality improvement, but also relevant products. Knowing practical knowlege and workforce skills as well as theoretical knowlege would be a good start in the education system.

We need to be careful to not pre-judge something new as negative right away - change is needed -

The IEA and GEA will not like competition - that does not make it (competition) bad. Jack Welch has some very innovative approaches to deal with the out-of-line costs that are incurred for college education and education in general.

I am open to hear what it is all about, and how it could offer an education and economic value.

I find it interesting that so many people get upset over the concept of a for-profit company managing a public school. Let's not forget that nearly everything in a public school comes via the for-profit sector. Textbook, testing, furniture, computer, and construction companies have been making huge profits in public education for decades, and I could argue that how a school is operated makes a far greater impact on student achievement than whether a student is sitting in a Virco desk or a Hon desk, or whether they are on a Dell or a PC, or a Mac, or whether they are using a textbook from Houghton or Pearson. If the for-profits were to be removed from public education, there would be nothing left.

Schools in IL do need more options for students and charter schools are great if they are done well. This K12 school is not transparent. I don't like how there is no information on how the public seat money will be spent on each child. K12 is making a profit and I know that they will keep a chunk of it. K12 is marketing to homeschoolers, OK, but also to schools saying that they can serve currently underserved students. So will Boards now try to dump their low achievers, truants and even some special ed to the ILCharter so that local test scores are improved? Especially with the new ISAT parameters this isn't unrealistic.

We do have a virtual public school - Illinois Virtual School serves thousands of students and works with the schools so that no money leaves the school. If this program were expanded then there would be even more choice for students in Illinois and the money would stay with the student, not go to a corporation.

Yes, IL does need to get with the digital program. We are 49th in the country for digital learning, 50th for finances. This K12 charter is a scary solution and will result in the State turning control of their virtual students (which will keep expanding) over to corporations. California has many great examples of virtual schools that are not corporate and well done. And they don't have very good state finances either. So, there are other solutions.

I also worry about a virtual board that doesn't show up to town meetings.

Student funding should follow the student and if a district can't provide the type of education a students needs, then they should be able to chose to go somewhere that they can get what they need. Pro Choice education is the way to go. Look at how poorly our public school compare to all other nations...we are FAILING our students.

http://townhall.com/columnists/michellemalkin/2013/03/15/time-to-opt-out-of-creepy-fed-ed-datamining-racket-n1534759?utm_source=thdaily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl

http://www.salon.com/2013/03/11/getting_rich_off_of_schoolchildren/

Like i said before....Change the way schools are funded. Allow the money to be attached to the child and they go to whichever school their parents send them. My tax money is going to a public school district that I don't even utilize, thankfully. I don't have a choice to use that money in the way I see fit. Competition only makes things better. Right now there is no competition. If the school districts don't want to lose money, buck up and do a better job.

Reposting from comments on other Patch article on this same topic...

The New York Times reported in December 2011 that "only a third of K12’s schools achieved adequate yearly progress" according to a study conducted by Western Michigan University and the National Education Policy Center.

The NYT article is available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/13/education/online-schools-score-better-on-wall-street-than-in-classrooms.html
The actual Miron & Urschel (2012) study is available at: http://nepc.colorado.edu/files/nepc-rb-k12-miron.pdf

As the executive summary of that report reads: "Weak performance outcomes were found across an array of school performance measures. Before promoting or even enabling the expansion of full-time virtual schools, more research is needed concerning two key issues: understanding why the performance of full-time virtual schools suffers, and how that performance can be improved."

The recommendation for policymakers from the Miron & Urschel (2012) study was:
"Slow or put a moratorium on the growth of full-time virtual schools: In the area of full-time virtual education, states should place their first priority on understanding why the performance of virtual schools suffers and how it can be improved before undertaking any measures or programs to expand this new model of schooling."

I was at this public forum as a mother of 3 students at Chicago Virtual Charter School, and within10 minutes wrote down 7 blatant lies stated as fact by Jobs with Justice and Representative Johnson. The good people of Fox River Valley school districts should be outraged that they are not being given factual information all of which is public record and readily available. My letter to the editor's of all news outlets present and Ms. Johnson's office will correct these errors.

I would be interested in your information, Bri. Please send it to me at jcscown@gmail.com

I was at the forum this past Sunday and the information that was spoken about was highly incorrect. I have 3 children in CVCS and they are all thriving in the school. As for the big argument that K12 is a for-profit organization you are correct, but so is every other company in the education supply business. As for the quality of the education I would ask you to look at the article from Chicago Magazine which rated the best public schools in Chicago and the neighboring Counties. http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/September-2012/Best-Public-Schools-in-Chicago-and-the-Suburbs/. Yes, this is a different way to interact with school but everyone learns differently and having options on the way we educate our children should be a choice you have. Educate yourself on the way the Virtual Charter Schools work and operate then make an informed choice, do not allow yourself to be fed information as a basis for a decision.

There is only one thing you need to know about k12: Do you remember Michael Milken, former felon and Junk Bond King of the eighties? He is also co-founder of K-12 Inc., America's largest provider of online education for kindergarten through 12th grade.