The Wisconsin Policy Research Institute

State Limits on Virtual Schools Prompt Outcry
Parents fear loss of educational opportunity.

By James Wigderson

For parents like Deana Sheppard and Kathleen Seipel, the uncertainty is excruciating as they try to plan for school this fall. They have children on the waiting list for the state’s 14 virtual schools. Will they get in...or not?

That waiting list is the product of the new enrollment cap of 5,250 online students, insisted upon by Gov. Jim Doyle, as part of the political compromise engineered by the Legislature last year. The compromise kept the publicly run online schools open after the state’s largest teachers union won a lawsuit challenging state funding of the virtual
schools.

With 730 full-time students in the 2008-09 school year, the Waukesha school district’s IQ Academy is the second-largest virtual school in the state.

Principal Rick Nettesheim says he’s “hopeful, actually optimistic,” that all children on the waiting list will be accepted this fall. In the meantime, he has asked their parents to contact their state legislators to let them know how they feel about the enrollment cap.

The flexibility of IQ Academy’s online schooling appeals to both Sheppard and Seipel and their children.

Unfortunately, Teresa Boinski, Sheppard’s daughter, is #1161 on the state waiting list for placement in an online school. Teresa, 17, who’ll be entering her senior year next fall, has studied the violin since she was four. Now she’s been accepted for training at the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music.

Teresa’s problem is that a normal educational setting wouldn’t be flexible enough to meet the demands of a part-time job and the intense schedule of her musical training. Sheppard admits she’s “a bit nervous” and does not know what they will do if Teresa can’t enroll at IQ Academy.

Kathleen Seipel is “hoping and praying” her son, Adam, gets into IQ Academy. Adam, 18, is another incoming senior. He plays competitive
hockey, and his travel schedule makes a standard education impossible.

However, IQ Academy’s virtual education would travel with him as long as he has an Internet connection. Adam is #420 on the state waiting list. His mother says, “The flexibility, you just can’t beat it. I just wish I didn’t have the stress factor of wondering.”

Students like Teresa and Adam aren’t alone. Many families today are looking for specialized educational opportunities tailored to their children’s needs and interests. The standard school setting just doesn’t allow that.

Wisconsin has the means to accommodate and encourage these students’ dreams. But the Legislature and the governor have to do their part by removing the enrollment caps on virtual schools.

-July 27, 2009

James Wigderson is proprietor of the Wigderson Library & Pub blog.

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