Teachers' union types are in a snit over Department of Education funding for the Arkansas Virtual Academy (AVA), an online charter school that uses curricula from K12, a venture headed by former Secretary of Education William Bennett. (Full disclosure: Fordham's Finn is on its board.) The conservative pundit is accused of using political connections to secure the federal grant and the Academy is accused of siphoning off public dollars to support home schooling. (Turns out many students using AVA - which is a public school, albeit virtual - are former home schoolers or private schoolers.) We'll let pass the absurdity of the NEA complaining about the use of political connections to get things done. To critics, the fact that AVA gets three applicants for every available spot - a clear indication that the present system is not fulfilling a need - is irrelevant. So is the fact that, according to an AVA spokesman, 80 percent of AVA students would have been assigned to a district or school on the needing-improvement list. The establishment mantra: change is bad for us, and thus bad.
"Grants to Bennett's K12 Inc. challenged," eSchoolNews Online, August 16, 2004
"Federal grant to Bennett's K12, Inc. questioned," by David J. Hoff and Michelle R. Davis, Education Week, July 28, 2004