State finds flaws with new virtual charter school

DEARY, Idaho — Advocates of Idaho’s second computer-based statewide charter school are discounting state concerns that their plan involves conflicts of interest, illegal vouchers and authorizes religious material in the instructional plan.

“As in any situation, there are some uncertainties,” Whitepine School Board Chairman Byron Cannon said. “But we are sure moving along.”

The Whitepine board in April voted to create a virtual charter school that would provide educational services to 1,000 primarily home-schooled children across the state.

Unlike the state’s other computer-based charter school the proposed school would not use any prepackaged curriculum.

Known as the Idaho Distance Education Academy, it would let parents choose a curriculum as long as it met state standards. The academy would provide families materials and the assistance of a teacher although parents would be the primary teacher.

But the State Department of Education, in a preliminary assessment earlier this month, raised questions about the validity of the proposal.

Carolyn Mauer, who runs the department’s Bureau of Curriculum and Accountability, said the per-student allotments — ranging from $600 for kindergarten students to $1,600 for high school students — appeared to be little more than a publicly funded voucher program, which is not permitted in Idaho.

Mauer found a clear conflict of interest for the Whitepine board to run the charter school it authorized and is required to monitor.

And Mauer also disputed assertions by one charter advocate that parents could use faith-based materials as long as they paid for the materials personally. She said the constitution prohibits the use of religious material in any public school instructional program.