No wait I misread all the stories. I mean Cyber school. Recently, the Lancaster papers ran a number of stories on the Cyber schooling movement. Not all of them were negative, but I would say that there were two strong undertows in the stories:

1. Cyber schools are not accountable for the way that they spend state tax dollars and should be.
2. There is an insinuation that Cyber school (and especially their administrators) are sticking away money in ways that are vile and taking salaries that are...well...too high.

To say that the paper is in the tank for the public schools sort of goes without saying. In this line of stories they are protrayed as sort of the virtuous people whose funding is being decreased so that Cyber school people can have big salaries and kids can play tetris all day.

I am not a huge fan of Cyber schooling, but I think that it might work well for some students. I think that it feeds one of the biggest sins of our culture: the idea that I can do it all on my own (Cyber school kids are both isolated from other children and connected to others in ways that should be considered.) Some students probably thrive in this environment.

I am tired of hearing public school teachers and administrators whine about funding decreases. We are now in Lancaster County funding students at the rate of $14,200 per student per year. This is ridiculously high and completely unsustainable. The public school folks don't see this, and they really should. It is almost too late for them. Judgment day is coming (for state funding). Right now, many of them are screaming louder and louder demanding the polishing of the brass go on as scheduled while the ship is taking on water. This might sound crazy, but the best thing that public schools could do would be to cut their tie to tax dollars and privatize. In those circumstances, many would survive in some form, but this distribution of cake and icing would be radically different. In the end, the parent should be responsible for the child and the parent should find and pay for the schooling option that fits their child best. This is the truth that is eating its way out into the light now. The events that have been in motion for the last few years having been whispering and now saying this. Cyber schools are just one attempt at a rearguard action. They do raise this juicy question: Why should Cyber kid parents get to keep their tuition money if their Cyber schools are not meeting or held to state standards? Why doesn't everyone else get to keep their money too?