Educators wary of new online education law

Lisa Schencker:

Some education leaders worry a new law intended to give students more opportunities to take online classes will be difficult to implement, might limit students' educations and could hurt some schools in the long run.

Educators expressed their concerns to lawmakers at an Education Interim Committee meeting Wednesday. The law would allow Utah students, starting in the fall, to take up to two courses online instead of at their regular schools. And whoever provides that online course -- either another school district or a charter school -- would get part of the money that would normally go to the student's home school district or charter.

The state school board will hold a special meeting on June 27 to pass an emergency rule outlining how the program should work. But state education leaders told lawmakers Wednesday that while they support online education, certain aspects of the law might be troublesome.

According to the law, online classes would take the place of regular school day classes. Students, however, wouldn't have to take the online classes during the day, meaning they could potentially have nothing to do at school for up to two periods a day.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at June 17, 2011 1:33 AM
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