STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION – TOPIC SUMMARY
Topic: Oregon Virtual Academy Charter School Waiver Request
Date: June 19, 2008
Staff/Office: Joni Gilles/ Office of Educational Improvement and Innovation
Action Requested: Information only Policy Adoption Policy Adoption/Consent Calendar
ISSUE BEFORE THE BOARD:
Whether to grant a waiver from ORS 338.125(1) and (2) (a) for the Oregon Virtual Academy Charter School (ORVA) to operate an online school for kindergarten through grade 8 with more than 50% out-of-district students? ORVA requests a waiver from:
§ ORS 338.125(1) to allow ORVA to base admissions on whether a student has the permission of the student’s resident school district to attend ORVA; and
§ ORS 338.125 (2)(a) that states “if a public charter school offers any online courses as part of the curriculum of the school, then 50 percent or more of the students who attend the public charter school must reside in the school district in which the public charter school is located”.
BACKGROUND:
The charter school law, ORS 338.025, authorizes the State Board to waive certain provisions of the law if the waiver promotes the development of programs by providers, enhances the equitable access by underserved families to the public education of their choice, extends the equitable access to public support by all students or permits high quality programs of unusual costs.
Oregon Virtual Academy Charter School, through its board of directors, worked with the North Bend School District to create an online, public charter school to serve students in grades K-10. The North Bend School District approved the contract on Nov. 19, 2007 in a unanimous vote. The school submitted a request to waive ORS 338.125(2) (b) on Dec. 5, 2007. This waiver request would have allowed the school to have an enrollment with more than 50 percent of the school’s students residing outside of the sponsoring school district.
On March 13, 2008, the State Board of Education denied this waiver request.
On April 2, 2008, ORVA submitted a revised waiver request. ORVA requested a waiver from ORS 338.125(1) and (2) with the following conditions:
1. The school will serve only grades K – 8.
2. The school will serve only 100 students per grade level.
3. Students falling outside of the 50% rule must receive written approval of their resident district in order to enroll in the school.
4. The waiver sunsets on July 1, 2010 unless extended by the State Board of Education.
5. The school agrees to work with ODE staff to support ODE’s efforts to collect additional data on the overall operation of the school and support ODE’s effort to make regular reports to the State Board of Education including the Database Initiative.
6. The school will agree to a third-party performance evaluation commissioned by ODE and/or the State Board of Education of its entire academic, programmatic, and operational programs. The school will cover these costs if required by ODE.
7. For the purposes of interpreting the 50% rule, ORVA will not count part-time resident students when determining how many students the school can accept from outside the district. Furthermore, should the State Board of Education pass a clarification on the enrollment language in the 50% rule, the school agrees to abide by it.
8. That the Oregon Virtual Academy/North Bend School District charter application meet applicable Oregon standards.
These conditions have been agreed to by both ORVA and the North Bend School District in public meetings.
State law allows a public charter school to request that the State Board of Education waive any provision in the Public Charter Schools law chapter except those found in ORS 338.115. The Board has adopted a policy to make decisions on waiver requests within 120 days when possible; for this request, that date is July 30, 2008.
Each of the conditions listed above are within the legal purview of the State Board with the revised waiver request.
BOARD HISTORY: On April 17, 2008 Director Paz motioned to amend the waiver conditions to add a cap on the total number of students who may attend ORVA. The cap was placed at 600 students. The Board then voted on the amended waiver request. Only three Board members voted in favor of granting the amended waiver request therefore the motion failed.
On May 15, 2008, the Board directed staff to bring the waiver request back to the Board in June as an agenda item.
April 2, 2008
Dr. Jerry Berger, Chair
Oregon State Board of Education
255 Capitol Street NE Salem, OR 97310-0203
Chairman Berger and Members of the Board:
This letter is a formal waiver request from ORS 338.125(1) and 338.125(2). The request is made under authority of ORS 338.025 by the Oregon Virtual Academy Charter School and
the North Bend School District. The ORVA and the School District both have agreed that any waiver the State Board approves should be conditioned in the manner that the virtual charter school work group chaired by Duncan Wyse has proposed.
As you know, on December 5, 2007, the board of the Oregon Virtual Academy Charter School submitted a request to waive ORS 338.125(2)(b). That statute requires 50% or more of the students who attend a public charter school to be residents of the district in
which the charter school is located. After reviewing and approving this waiver request, the
North Bend School Board gave testimony in support of the waiver.
On March 13, 2008, the State Board of Education denied this waiver request. Board members stated that they would consider an amended request seeking waiver of ORS
338.125(1) and 338.125(2) if the Oregon Virtual Academy Charter School addressed several recommended conditions. These conditions were the direct result of the work completed during two public meetings by a subcommittee consisting of Duncan Wyse (chair), Artemio Paz, Jr., and Lewis Frederick. Our group worked with the subcommittee
and Oregon Department of Education (ODE) staff seeking ways to address their concerns, and as a result both the Oregon Virtual Academy Board and the North Bend School District discussed and adopted the following conditions during public meetings:
1. The school will serve only grades K – 8.
2. The school will serve only 100 students per grade level.
3. Students falling outside of the 50% rule must receive written approval of their
resident district in order to enroll in the school.
4. The waiver sunsets on July 1, 2010 unless extended by the State Board of Education.
5. The school agrees to work with ODE staff to support ODE’s efforts to collect additional
data on the overall operation of the school and support ODE’s effort to make regular
reports to the State Board of Education including the Database Initiative.
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6. The school will agree to a third-party performance evaluation commissioned by ODE and/or the State Board of Education of its entire academic, programmatic, and operational
programs. The school will cover these costs if required by ODE.
7. For the purposes of interpreting the 50% rule, ORVA will not count part-time resident students when determining how many students the school can accept from outside the district. Furthermore, should the State Board of Education pass a clarification on the enrollment language in the 50% rule, the school agrees to abide by it.
8. That the Oregon Virtual Academy/North Bend School District charter application meet applicable Oregon standards.
We want to assure the State Board that the school’s proposed curriculum and staffing
model have been reviewed in detail by the North Bend School Board and staff as part of its comprehensive review process. Not only did North Bend review the school’s proposed curriculum alignment with Oregon standards, the district also reviewed the school’s
proposed actual lessons. This is something North Bend has never been able to do in other charter reviews. North Bend also reviewed the school’s proposed staffing model and professional development plans. Because schools in many other states have implemented similar programs (K12 Inc. -- the curriculum provider -- operates in 18 other states with large-scale programs), we were able to review both the model and its results as measured by performance on state assessments. In all cases, the K12 programs were among the top academic performers in their state. This data was provided both to the full board and to the subcommittee. North Bend also compared the school’s proposed staffing to the current operations of Connections Academy in Scio and found that it is consistent with that school’s approach with the difference that teachers in the ORVA model will be hired across the state’s geography so that teachers will be able to conduct more face-to-face instruction and field trips.
In conclusion, we thank the State Board and the staff of the ODE for their hard work and diligence over the past several months as we've discussed this waiver request. We are confident that the Oregon Virtual Academy's stellar curriculum, in tandem with the ORVA Board's oversight, will be a positive and enlightened opportunity for the fortunate students that will be enrolled. We are certain that in two years we'll return with a proven track record of success and that the model of virtual education with a quality curriculum will be considered an important offering in Oregon's educational buffet. We urge the State Board to approve our waiver on April 17 as it is critical to the school’s ability to begin operation during the 2008-2009 academic year. We thank you for your consideration and request that if you have any questions or concerns you contact us at your convenience.
Sincerely
Jack Reeves B.J. Hollensteiner
President Superintendent
Oregon Virtual Academy North Bend School District
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