Davare agreed that vouchers are similar to payments made by a school district for a student attending a charter school.

“There is no distinction,” he said. “The voucher is a total state subsidy except for the transportation costs. We don’t oppose cyber charter schools. What we do oppose is the funding. It should be based on what it costs to operate the school.”

The presence of children in the household mildly changed the opinions of the adult respondents to the survey. Adults with public school children opposed the proposal by 60 percent; adults with children in private schools opposed the proposal by 64 percent and adults with no children in the home opposed it by 67 percent.

For the rest of the article, go to Poll: Majority of Pa. residents oppose school vouchers

The group of superintendents, curriculum directors, and teachers learned how NNDS develops its courses, how a student is assessed, and how an online course is taught.

To demonstrate, the seminar was held at one of Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School’s offices in Midland, Pennsylvania. The largest cyber-charter school in Pennsylvania, PA Cyber is a leader in online learning and a client of NNDS. During lunch, attendees had the chance to meet with PA Cyber teachers and observe a virtual class.

For the rest of the article,go to NNDS Conference on Blended Learning Focused on Future of Education in Ohio

Instead of hopping on a school bus this September, an estimated 27,000 students across Pennsylvania flipped open their laptops and entered the virtual classroom of one Pennsylvania’s 11 cyber charter schools or one of a growing number of public school districts offering their own virtual academies. In southeastern Pennsylvania alone, at least 16 public school districts began offering a cyber option this September.

“There is a growing movement in school districts across Pennsylvania to come up with alternatives to cyber charter schools,” said Dr. Alan Slobojan of the Chester County Intermediate Unit (CCIU). “School district virtual academies fill the gap between brick and mortar public schools and cyber charter schools by providing online classes to attract students back to their local school districts (from cyber charter schools).”

For the rest of the article, go to More Students Are Using the Information Highway as Their Route to School

“This is how education is moving. We’ve put something together to address short-term and long-term needs,” said Bridges Virtual director Chris Harrington, who is taking a break from his role as Quakertown’s technology director to get the program on its feet.

In its first year, high school students across Bucks County will be able to “attend” classes at Quakertown’s cyber school, Infinity Cyber Academy, which offers a comprehensive course catalog. These students either had been attending cyber charter schools elsewhere or are interested in more flexibility in their education.

To date, 20 students from districts including Pennridge and Neshaminy have signed up or expressed interest.

For the rest of the article, go to Bridging the cyber gap

“The good thing about blending this with a school district is all the activities at the school district are open to the student,” she said. So the students who attend Brandywine can also go to extracurricular activities such as theater, athletics and other after-school clubs. The graduates will also receive a North Penn High School diploma.

Superintendent Curt Dietrich said he hopes that students already enrolled in other charter schools will want to switch to Brandywine. This past year the district paid $904,000 to send students to for-profit cyber charter schools.

Souderton Area School District is also considering offering Brandywine to its students, but since the school board has not yet approved it, the soonest SASD students could take the cyber classes would be in January

For the rest of the article, go to North Penn, Brandywine Virtual Academy reach deal for cyber school offering

The district hopes that starting its own program will lure back some of the 120 students currently enrolled in cyber charter schools.

When a student leaves a traditional public school district to attend charter or cyber charter schools, the public school district is still responsible for paying the instructional cost for that student.

In Stroudsburg, the current cost is $11,000 per pupil. For special education students, the cost is double that. Stroudsburg’s own program would cost $4,500 per student and $16,784 per special education student.

For the rest of the article, go to Stroudsburg Area School District to launch cyber charter school