In AP reporter John Miller's story today, state schools Supt. Tom Luna's spokeswoman, Melissa McGrath, says Luna's school reform plan won't direct local school districts to use a specific content provider like K12. "Local school districts, not the state or state superintendent, will determine which courses are delivered online and how they are delivered online," she told the AP. "All those decisions are left to the local level, and they have many options."

Actually the bill, SB 1113, is very specific on this question: On pages 40-41, it says, "the school district or public charter school may designate the required courses that students must successfully complete each school year, but may not prescribe the provider of such courses." The students and parents pick the providers, and the local school districts have no say over them - they just have to pay them, at a pre-set amount laid out in the bill in its "fractional ADA" provisions. (Schools could pay a different amount if they already have a contract with the provider, but nothing obligates students or parents to choose the district's contracted provider.)

This was an issue at Senate Education Committee hearings this week, when Sen. Monty Pearce, R-New Plymouth, a supporter of the reform plan, questioned that provision. "I'm curious," he said. "We're going into unknown territory here, and some (providers) are just better, and if we want the best for our kids," he asked, shouldn't districts be able to choose the best providers? He also asked if there's data on which providers are better and their student failure rates. Luna aide Jason Hancock responded that a task force looking at how to implement the technology issues can look at that between this year's legislative session and next year's.

When I asked Senate Education Chairman John Goedde about this provision earlier in the week, he said he thought the bill let school districts approve a list of providers, but it has no such provision; both Hancock and Luna said the control that local districts get is in determining which courses - say, health - must be taken online. Luna said students can't take additional courses beyond a full class load and make their districts pay for it. But if they choose to take more of their class load online, under the bill, the district must pay for it whether it wanted that class to be taken online or not, and whether it likes the provider or not. You can read the bill here.