Nothing like using the current pandemic to promote a really bad education reform that has already proven to be terrible at best.

From Terry Stoops at the libertarian think tank John Locke Foundation:

Here’s a closer look at that poll:

It’s from EdChoice. They do not really like public schools. Stoops says in this post, “As such, wouldn’t it be a good time to remove caps on virtual charter schools?  (Yes, the answer is yes.)”

Of course he would say that. Virtual charter schools make money for someone else under the guise of “public school” and “choice.”

North Carolina already has two virtual charter schools. They rank among the worst in the state for achievement.

But they may be two of the most enabled schools in the state.

From the Greensboro News & Record in Sept. of 2018,

“North Carolina’s two online charter schools have been open since 2015, but both schools have been unable to shed their state status as low performing.

Statewide test results released last week show that N.C. Connections Academy and N.C. Virtual Academy received D grades for their academic performance for the 2017-18 school year. It’s the third year in a row that both public schools have gotten a D and also failed to meet academic growth expectations on state tests, putting them on the state’s list of “continually low-performing schools” .

Yet, Mark Johnson has always expressed enthusiasm for them.

Even in a Sept. 2018 press conference on the school performance grades Johnson expressed “excitement” for the work these two charter virtual schools are doing.

He excused the performance of the two virtual charters on their unique population. But Johnson as the top official in public school in North Carolina should know that every school deals with a population that needs a little extra help sometimes. In fact, every school deals many populations. Every school: elementary, middle, high school, magnet.

But why are these two virtual charter schools given a constant “pass” when it comes to performance when the state super keeps speaking tough on the performance of traditional schools? In fact, “state lawmakers showed their support for the two schools last summer by passing legislation to let them stay open until at least 2023.”

K12 Inc. and Pearson (until 2018) were receiving money to run two low-performing virtual charters when the state public school system actually has a successful online school running. (Note from reader on Facebook to correct previous information: “North Carolina Connections Academy cut ties with Pearson after the 2018-2019 school year. The 2019-2020 year their LMS contract was made with Edgenuity and they function as an independent virtual charter school with the new name of NC Cyber Academy.”)

Stoops thinks we need more.