Charter school petition resubmitted

DEARY, Idaho – Advocates of another proposed statewide computer-based charter school believe they have resolved most of the questions raised by state officials about conflicts of interest, illegal vouchers and religious content in curricula.

Superintendent Daryl Bertelsen, whose Whitepine School District set up the Idaho Distance Education Academy, said most of the questions and criticism were the result of misinterpretations and misunderstandings.

“We amended our charter petition and resubmitted it,” Bertelsen said. “I think we’ve worked out most of the problems.

But the role religious material can play in the instructional programs put together by the families enrolling in the academy remained unclear.

Bertelsen said most of those expressing interest in the school, which is scheduled to open this fall, are home-schoolers and many are committed to using faith-based curricula for their children.

And Carolyn Mauer, who runs the Department of Education’s Bureau of Curriculum and Accountability, pointed out earlier this year that the state constitution prohibits the inclusion of faith-based material in any instructional program financed with tax money.

The state money given to the new charter, just like the cash provided traditional schools, will not finance any faith-based materials, Bertelsen said, and the curricula offered to parents through the academy will be reviewed to assure they meet state standards.

But, he conceded, “what they do in their own homes, we don’t have any control over that.”

“In our tours around the state, a lot of the home-schoolers are home-schooling for various reasons,” he said. “But a lot of them base their home-schooling on faith-based curriculums.”

The academy would be the third computer-based charter school in the state. There are also 14 brick-and-mortar charter schools with two more to open in the fall.

A number of lawmakers have raised questions about the operation of the first virtual charter school — the Idaho Virtual Academy — because of the millions of dollars it has siphon from support for traditional public schools to keep it in the black. Some blame the lucrative contract the charter agreed to sign with a curriculum company founded by former U.S. Education Secretary William Bennett.

Until the creation of the virtual charters, home-schoolers did not receive any state financial support just as none has ever been provided to private or religious-affiliated schools. Under the original Whitepine charter, the state-financed allotments would be provided each student, ranging from $600 for kindergarten to $1,600 for high school.

Bertelsen expects an initial enrollment of 950 students this fall.