New virtual charter school a hit with home-schoolers

DEARY, Idaho – Parents who have taught their children in home-school programs are praising a new statewide virtual charter school.

The Idaho Distance Education Academy opened in September in the Deary School District with 600 new students, including two from the Schumann family of Post Falls.

Shannel Schumann previously had her two children, ages 11 and 12, in the Boise-based Idaho Virtual Academy for two years.

Schumann liked the idea of the Idaho Virtual Academy, but didn’t like the curriculum provided by K12, a for-profit company in Virginia founded by former U.S. Education Secretary William Bennett.

Last year she home-schooled. But this year she uses a faith-based curriculum called “Switched On School House.”

The state does not pay for the curriculum, but it does provide teaching oversight and guidance, as well as a financial allotment Schumann uses for her children’s music lessons and some school supplies.

“If I felt like the state was too intrusive and wasn’t allowing me to make the choices I wanted for my children, then it would bother me. But as it stands now I feel I have the accountability I need and the ability to choose the way and the content of what I teach my children.”

The office staff of the Idaho Distance Education Academy is based from a room in the Bovill Elementary School. Teachers, administrators, parents and students stay connected through the Internet, the telephone and frequent get-togethers in the various locations around the state where students live.

The state gives parents an allotment from $600 to $1,400 per student per year, depending on their student’s grade level, which they use to purchase computers, textbooks and other school supplies.

Many home-school parents want to teach their children at home for religious reasons.

Although the state does not reimburse parents for faith-based materials, some buy them anyway and use the allotment from the state to pay for guided instruction in music, art, physical education or other accepted courses.

“As long as the individual learning plan states the learning objectives of the state standards are being taught, we accept the learning program,” said Daryl Bertelsen, superintendent of both the Whitepine district and the virtual school.

“As long as the state standards are being taught, does it matter if the students count apples or angels?”

So far this year, the state has paid the Deary virtual school $1.7 million in four advance payments, based on estimated enrollment, according to Tim Hill of the state Department of Education. The amount will be adjusted in February to reflect actual enrollment.

Bertelsen says the advance payments are being eaten up quickly by start-up costs and equipment.

The school will be lucky to break even this year – it needs about 900 students to operate efficiently.

Although the Idaho Legislature has capped enrollment at 1,500 students, Bertelsen believes there will be no problem reaching that limit within a couple of years.