The Wall Street Journal, Washington Post and The Nation are among the major publications scrutinizing the boom in virtual education and Idaho is among the states winning attention for Superintendent Tom Luna's "Students Come First" plan. Lee Fang's story in The Nation, "How Online Learning Companies Bought America's Schools," follows the storyline pushed by the Idaho Education Association.
Fang's story includes several of the characters that appeared in my February account of the origins of the Luna plan, including former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and News Corp's Rupert Murdoch. Fang also highlights the role of Tom Vander Ark, who lobbied lawmakers on behalf of Luna's plan in a visit to Idaho in February.
Writes Fang: "From Idaho to Indiana to Florida, recently passed laws will radically reshape the face of education in America, shifting the responsibility of teaching generations of Americans to online education businesses, many of which have poor or nonexistent track records. The rush to privatize education will also turn tens of thousands of students into guinea pigs in a national experiment in virtual learning—a relatively new idea that allows for-profit companies to administer public schools completely online, with no brick-and-mortar classrooms or traditional teachers."
IEA Communications Director Julie Fanselow alerted reporters Tuesday to a blog post in Education Week by Julie Ravitch that links to the Nation, Post and Journal stories and other material. "Of course, Idaho is in the forefront of this movement," writes Fanselow. "Thank you for continuing to follow this story."