Selling Online Education to the New Jersey Legislature

I think the members of The Joint Committee on the Public Schools thought they were going to be educated about online education at yesterday's hearing.  Instead, what they got was a sales pitch.

In my previous blog post I was pretty clear that all three presenters are very cozy with K12 Inc., the for-profit online education behemoth that stands to gain the most financially if NJ starts rewriting our laws, allowing them to get a foothold.   Check out this testimonial letter Susan Patrick wrote for Ron Packard, K12 Inc.'s CEO.

I’ve known Ron for many years and his passion for education is contagious. He believes that education reform must be a priority so that American students are ready for the challenges in an increasingly competitive world. Ron is an effective spokesperson for the benefits that online learning brings to students and the limitless potential it holds to change public education for the better. 

Guess we will have to agree to disagree.  I don't see how allowing K12 Inc. to siphon huge profits out of the already stretched taxpayer dollars available for public ed will "change public education for the better."

And most of the legislators at the hearing yesterday seemed to agree.  Check out my twitter feed for some choice highlights.  This was nothing like the cakewalk I witnessed at Cerf's confirmation hearing, which I suppose was a fait accompli, so no one really bothered to put the screws to him.  

Yesterday I got an idea of what Senator Rice, co-chair of the committee, would have done had he been given the opportunity to question Cerf.  In fact he had some choice words for Cerf as he questioned the presenters about the ongoing "privatization agenda."

He pushed all three presenters to disclose who funds their efforts and does their research, until at last Michael Horn threw out Gates' name.  

Oops, twitter typo, that should read funded...

Rice pointed out that what they are proposing isn't terribly new...

And then he wrapped it all up with a bow.

And in case you're thinking it was only Rice that had some choice words for these folks, you're wrong.

Chair of the Committee, Assemblywoman Wagner, cited the National Education Policy Center Study which found that students in K12 Inc. schools are falling further behind in math and reading than students in brick and mortar schools.  

Lots of stammering ensued from the presenters.  

She asked the presenters why NJ shouldn't adopt a no-growth policy until K12 Inc. and others can demonstrate success in other states.  

More stammering. 

Assemblyman Ramos raised a host of salient issues, including that NCLB was based on what Diane Ravitch calls the Texas Miracle but now Texas is asking for a waiver from NCLB.  He said that Texas was the guineas pig for NCLB; let other states be the guineas pigs for online learning.  

Silence.

And Assemblyman Caputo simply stated that the NJ Legislature was not going to mandate online learning without the support of the education community, parents, and students.  

Why do yesterday's presenters want to see NJ adopt laws that will allow online and blended learning?  Perhaps a map from Susan Patrick's presentation is the most telling.

Check out NJ, one of a handful of states that have not submitted to any kind of state wide online school, despite Cerf's attempt to ram not one, but two down our throats.  

And when problems are already cropping up with K12 Inc. in state after state, I don't see why in the world we would.  And quite frankly, the salespeople presenters didn't make a terribly strong case as to why we should.