Education board votes to require online classes

BOISE – Idaho is a step closer to joining the handful of states that require students to take online courses.

The state Board of Education gave initial approval Friday to a rule requiring high school students to take at least two credits online to graduate, despite heavy opposition to the plan at public hearings across Idaho this summer.

Schools nationwide offer online classes but just three states – Alabama, Florida and Michigan – have adopted rules since 2006 to require online learning, according to the International Association of K-12 Online Learning in Washington, D.C.

Idaho would be the first state to require two credits online.

Idaho’s education board drafted the online course requirements as part of new education changes that were signed into law earlier this year with backing from public schools chief Tom Luna and Gov. Butch Otter. Luna wanted students to take up to eight online course credits, but that provision was ditched during the 2011 session of the Idaho Legislature amid opposition from parents, teachers and some lawmakers.

An effort to require students to take four online credits was also ditched.

The legislation that was approved and signed into law directed the state Board of Education to draft standards governing the online course requirements.