HB 2170, The sole purpose of this bill is to lower funding to on-line independent charter schools. It protects on-line public schools like Tigard-Tualatin On-line Academy. Public hearing, originally scheduled for 2/25, has been pulled for now.
Personal Choice: By directly reducing funding for on-line charter schools, this law is restricting school choice and limiting the available pay for teachers and student support, as well as innovation in a cutting edge of education that has proven effective for many students who do not fare as well in traditional education scenarios, as well as rural students who have access to a broader diversity of classes through on-line charter schools.
Fiscal Responsibility: Rather than address the waste within traditional public schools, this law focuses on cutting funding of more efficient methods of education so they cannot expand and more on-line charter schools will not be started.
Local Control: You don't get much closer to local control than a charter school board, which usually has parents of students on the board. This law will affect the viability of on-line charter schools, and therefore reduce local control.
Free market: This law seeks to penalize parents, students and schools who can work more efficiently than the traditional classroom model with brick and mortar buildings. Further, it singles out charter schools without addressing on-line schools run directly by public school districts. This demonstrates the intention of this law is to harm charter schools.
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