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Broward's Online Teaching May Be Cut: Broward Might Be Forced to Shift Its Virtual Education Students to the State's Online School

Posted on: Wednesday, 14 June 2006, 06:00 CDT

By Hannah Sampson, The Miami Herald

Jun. 14--The Broward school district might get out of the business of providing online courses to students.

Broward Schools Superintendent Frank Till told School Board members at a workshop Tuesday that Broward's virtual program may cease to exist, forcing students to turn to the Florida Virtual School.

Teachers with Broward Virtual Education, a franchise of Florida Virtual School, are balking at an agreement that the state program is requiring they sign for the first time. If the teachers don't sign, the district loses the franchise.

What's unclear is whether students will even notice.

LONG WAITS

Five years ago, the district licensed courses from Florida Virtual School and started its own online learning program, because local students who wanted to take the state courses were finding themselves on long waiting lists.

"Our students were getting shut out all the time," said School Board member Beverly Gallagher.

Pam Birtolo, chief learning officer with Florida Virtual School, agreed that the wait was a problem then, but said the school has since expanded.

"We have capacity to serve those students," Birtolo said.

Till said he will try to salvage the Broward program. If he cannot, he wants to ensure a smooth transition to the Florida program for students.

Birtolo said that the state program has the same goal, if Broward's students must switch.

"We too want that transfer to be seamless," she said. "We will ensure that every student is served and that every student is transferred into a course with speed."

Since Broward uses the state's course offerings, students' options would not be narrowed. Both Broward and Florida have courses for high school and middle school students. Many students in Broward already take Florida Virtual School courses instead of the county's.

Last school year, the full-time enrollment for Broward Virtual Education High School was 253, though many more students took online courses while attending traditional high schools. According to Florida Virtual School, Broward Virtual had 4,500 completed course enrollments in the 2005-06 school year.

There were 53 full-time middle school students, and 107 other students who also took some portion of their middle school classes online.

OPERATING DEFICIT

Though finances are not a factor in whether the district will keep the program, Broward Virtual Education is projected to have a deficit of $1.1 million next school year.

Till said that losing the virtual school would end up saving the district a lot of money, even after paying about $250,000 to teachers and staff.

"We've not been cost-effective," Till said.

Board members said the district could possibly bring the program back in the future if it has to disappear temporarily.

"We need a business plan," said board member Marty Rubinstein. "We need to make it self-sufficient."

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Miami Herald

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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Source: The Miami Herald

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