Jay Chilton
MiddleGround News
School choice proponents earned a key victory for children enrolled in charter and traditional public schools when Governor Fallin today signed into law a measure creating a library of supplemental online courses which will be available to all Oklahoma public school students.
Senate Bill 136 by Senator Gary Stanislawski, R-Tulsa, and Rep. Jason Nelson, R-Oklahoma City, directs the Statewide Virtual Charter School Board to, “Make publicly available a list of supplemental online courses … (emphasizing) science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), foreign language and advanced placement courses.”
“I started working on it (the bill) several years ago,” Stanislawski said. “I’ve always seen it as a school choice bill. A traditional school student who has struggled can take courses with the virtual school and have a chance to be successful because the (online) course would offer a different perspective.”
He continued to say that the law could help raise grade-point averages and graduation rates. He explained that if a student has a personal conflict with a teacher and fails a required course they may become discouraged because in many schools that teacher may be the only teacher for that subject. With the new law, that student can retake the course in a different format and possibly continue their education with minimal loss of time.
Without the new option, the student might feel helpless, trapped into a situation where they believe themselves unable to succeed. That trapped feeling could conceivably lead to the student to dropping out altogether if they think passing the traditional course is not possible.
While debating a previous bill, SB 782 which was signed by the governor earlier this session, Democratic Minority Leader, Rep. Scott Inman, D-Del City, argued that charter schools make no sense for rural school districts.
“They (rural school districts) are already struggling to find one math teacher to teach in rural Oklahoma,” Inman said. “Why setting up another school and saying now we have to go find two math teachers is going to make it any better, is beyond me.”
However, Stanislawski said his legislation could go a long way to resolving some of the claimed teacher shortages when it comes to advanced course instruction.
“Students in rural districts have fewer options when it comes to high-level courses,” he said. “This bill gives those students access to advanced math, advanced biology or advanced physics. They could have access to Mandarin Chinese or any other language they otherwise wouldn’t have a chance to take.”
Stanislawski said that through online course options, students could gain access to great teachers, hard-to-find courses, time-saving benefits and classes tailored to the needs of the local community.
“There are some teachers out there who are loved by all their students, but not all students have a chance to take (that teacher’s) class. With this bill, a great teacher like that could be made available to kids all over the state.”
Online school advocates praise the law as an excellent starting point. The Statewide Virtual Charter School Board has been given a lot of latitude to ensure high-quality instruction in STEM, foreign languages and advanced placement courses, they said. This will provide an opportunity for the local school districts to become comfortable with how the system works and gain confidence in its effectiveness.
The law will be implemented gradually over the coming school year as local districts and the Statewide Virtual Charter School Board prepare for the changes. Courses provided for by the law are expected to start serving students in the fall of 2016.
