Sens. John Lehman, D-Racine, and Jon Erpenbach, D-Middleton, are to be commended for their visit Wednesday to the Monroe Virtual School to get a firsthand look at how online education institutions operate. Particularly given the recent legislative debate about virtual schools and their still uncertain future, the insight they gained Wednesday can be helpful.
There have been rumblings of concern this week about the future of compromise legislation on online education that was reached last month in Madison. Virtual school proponents are urging the Legislature to schedule floor votes as soon as possible, and without amendments that might jeopardize passage.
Lehman, whose initial legislation was viewed as a threat to the future of virtual schools, now believes the compromise bill should pass as is. It should.
To recap what happened earlier this year, Lehman wrote legislation that he said was meant to preserve the state's growing virtual school community. But provisions that would have restricted virtual schools' ability to enroll out-of-district students and cut state funding in half would have been damaging. Rep. Brett Davis, R-Oregon, countered with a bill that would preserve funding and enrollment opportunities, and establish virtual schools as educational centers on par with bricks-and-mortar schools.
A bipartisan compromise reached after weeks of debate, a number of hearings and an impressive citizens rally at the Capitol preserved funding and enrollment opportunities for virtual schools. It also would erase concerns a Wisconsin Appeals Court had when it ruled last December that the Wisconsin Virtual Academy was not entitled to state aid - a ruling that likely would have been applied to the state's other virtual schools, including Monroe's.
It is a good piece of legislation, supported by both Republican and Democratic lawmakers.
But Lehman on Wednesday hinted there may be an effort to amend the bill to include the very kind of enrollment caps that threatened virtual schools in the first place. That Lehman now says the compromise bill should pass as crafted is evidence of its merits.
The bill already has been approved by Assembly and Senate committees. It should be voted on, and passed, by the Legislature before it adjourns, withoug changes.
There have been rumblings of concern this week about the future of compromise legislation on online education that was reached last month in Madison. Virtual school proponents are urging the Legislature to schedule floor votes as soon as possible, and without amendments that might jeopardize passage.
Lehman, whose initial legislation was viewed as a threat to the future of virtual schools, now believes the compromise bill should pass as is. It should.
To recap what happened earlier this year, Lehman wrote legislation that he said was meant to preserve the state's growing virtual school community. But provisions that would have restricted virtual schools' ability to enroll out-of-district students and cut state funding in half would have been damaging. Rep. Brett Davis, R-Oregon, countered with a bill that would preserve funding and enrollment opportunities, and establish virtual schools as educational centers on par with bricks-and-mortar schools.
A bipartisan compromise reached after weeks of debate, a number of hearings and an impressive citizens rally at the Capitol preserved funding and enrollment opportunities for virtual schools. It also would erase concerns a Wisconsin Appeals Court had when it ruled last December that the Wisconsin Virtual Academy was not entitled to state aid - a ruling that likely would have been applied to the state's other virtual schools, including Monroe's.
It is a good piece of legislation, supported by both Republican and Democratic lawmakers.
But Lehman on Wednesday hinted there may be an effort to amend the bill to include the very kind of enrollment caps that threatened virtual schools in the first place. That Lehman now says the compromise bill should pass as crafted is evidence of its merits.
The bill already has been approved by Assembly and Senate committees. It should be voted on, and passed, by the Legislature before it adjourns, withoug changes.
