VIENNA — A law passed by the Missouri Legislature in May has drawn concern from administrators and school boards as it allows students to take online courses for free and the school district is responsible for paying the bill.

The Missouri Course Access and Virtual School Program was discussed at the September meeting of the Maries R-1 School Board. The group discussed this briefly last month when it was presented in the MSBA video the board watched. The intent of the new law is to give more access for high school students in small schools that don’t have money to hire staff to teach some courses, such as languages. 

Board member Keith Hayes said students could take all of their classes online at home. He thinks it is good for a student to show up at school and to socialize and participate in school while also learning what is taught at school. Under special circumstances, such as being home bound, then the online course taking seems more plausible. The school district has to approve the student taking the course and once approved, the school district has to pay for the course. However, the school will receive the state ADA money for the student.

Superintendent Mark Parker said there are 50 classes offered through the state and it is a University of Missouri-Columbia program. 

Board member Vicki Bade said it seems like the state wants to start giving out high school diplomas. She asked if it has to go through a school district and Parker said it does. They have received the “second batch” of policies and the school has to accept the student taking the online course unless it can prove there is no benefit to the student to take the online course. There are forms that must be filled out by the student. This becomes effective in January so schools throughout the state must prepare for it. Board members questioned who was driving this bill.

According to online sources, it was sponsored by State Rep. Bryan Spencer, R-Wentzville, a former teacher. Spencer was quoted saying he is a strong advocate of parent decision making in a child’s education, rather than a public school district. Opponents of the bill said it would create statewide virtual charter schools that are funded by taxpayers but run by public entities. Additionally, the National Education Policy Center found that only 37 percent of full time virtual schools in the US received acceptable performance ratings, and had low graduation rates.

Parker said the courses will be done by a provider and Maries R-1 will get the student’s ADA. Each course will cost $250 and a student can take up to seven credits. Online courses can’t be used for credit recovery.

Hayes said there may be students who come to school for half a day and then take three or four courses from home. Parker said the student still has to meet graduation requirements and take the End of Course (EOC) tests. As the school district gets further into this new process, Parker said the high school counselor will be vital to the transition period.

The school district has some say about which students are allowed to take the online courses. They must be good students with a good GPA. However, the good GPA is something the school has to determine. Parker said they want to talk to other districts to see where the bar will be set for this “good GPA.”

“My concern is the different level of learning,” Hayes said. “I don’t want it to be a push over, but I am afraid that is what will happen.”

Parker said they have things to iron out. Maries R-1 will not have to supply a classroom for this as then it would become a supervision issue. Hayes said he thinks there are attendance issues and he continues to have a lot of questions about it. Hayes thinks it may be hard to monitor and evaluate kids when they don’t come to school for their course work. Parker said there are guidelines, such as they have when a student takes a college course, and he hopes these guidelines will make the process clearer for the school district. 

In the financial report to the board, Parker reported August revenues of $170,389.67 and expenditures of $122,683.80 for a total fund variance of $47,705.87, a fiscal year balance of $1,421,851.35, and an unrestricted fund balance of $1,079,036.88. 

The recent electric bill was $9,047.59, which is a lot but historically this month the electric bill is several thousand dollars more. It has been very hot.  Looking at the district’s funds the claim or un-obligated federal money will be used to purchase software and computers. There is $23,000 left from last year and it has to be obligated by September 2019. Parker said they are looking to fill in some technology gaps and may purchase new laptops to hook to the Smartboards, or another laptop cart. This federal money is called REAP and it is for small schools, which get a dollar amount. Once he gets prices and makes a purchase order, the funds become obligated.

In his administrative report, Parker said the Friends of the Gym 2 donation board is now on the wall above the south doorway into the gym.