Colorado Springs Gazette EDITORIAL

Colorado Springs Gazette EDITORIAL May 15, 2008 -

D-11 JUST WANTS MEAT IN THE SEAT

Lawsuit will only hurt kids in need Leaders of District 11 need to stop trying to protect yesterday's monopoly and start worrying about the needs of students and families in Colorado Springs. The district filed a surprise lawsuit Tuesday in Denver against the Colorado State Board of Education and Hope Online Learning Academy Co-Op.

It's demanding "clarification of the rights, roles and responsibilities of each of the parties under a new online learning law enacted by the Colorado Legislature in 2007." The district fully understands the rights, roles and responsibilities, and is merely trying to obstruct progress. Hope Online, a hugely successful statewide online school, began operating in D-11 and dozens of other districts in 2005.

The school is a modern and innovative answer to the problems facing children who haven't done well in the kind of monopolized, one-size-fits-all schools provided by D-11 and other giant districts. It's part of the school choice movement, which provides more options than ever for families of modest means to shop around for educational opportunities that meet the diverse needs of children.

District 11 administrators, who seem to have an absurd amount of control over the elected school board members who are supposed to be in charge, don't like school choice. They like the way things were, when public schools felt entitled to all children whose parents couldn't afford private schools. Public money is attached to each student, and the old guard doesn't like having to compete with charter schools from out of town.

They want meat in the seat, and schools such as Hope Online pose a threat. Unlike every other major school district in the state - Boulder, Denver, Aurora, Westminster, etc. - District 11 has done everything possible to obstruct the progress of Hope Online. The state board ordered D-11 to enter into an operating agreement with Hope Online, which is why the district is suing the board. In a press release, D-11 officials explain that they're suing in part because of performance concerns involving Hope Online. "Among the many weaknesses were extremely low CSAP test scores and severe financial accountability and solvency issues," the press release states. Hog swill.

The solvency and accountability issues have been resolved. Hope Online was originally chartered through a small, rural district that became overwhelmed with the program's immediate success. The charter has been moved to a much larger urban district, which has the appropriate resources to manage a growing charter school's books and administrative needs. The charge that Hope Online's CSAP scores are "extremely low" represents a malicious and dishonest insult. The scores are low precisely because the school attracts underperforming students who have been let down by traditional schools.

They typically begin at Hope Online several grade levels behind where they're supposed to be, and their progress has been impressive. In reading, for example, the percentage of Hope students scoring "advanced" or "proficient" in 2007 CSAPs grew by 6.06 percent from 2006.

In D-11, it grew by only 0.14 percent. Hope Online clearly helps troubled students succeed. Apparently, D-11 doesn't care about cooperating with a successful school that's creating promising futures for kids. It cares more about protecting that old, strong monopoly the teacher's union longs to revive.

This lawsuit could hurt kids, and the families that care about them. It's a lawsuit that should be dropped.