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Case in Point: Byers School District and Colorado
Education Solutions
$17
million Each of Past Three Years – But Accountable? Transparent?
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Introduction
– Two chief concerns–pp. 1-3
I.
Academic results–pp. 3-7
II.
Lack of transparency on finances–pp. 8-12
III.
My unanswered letters & calls to Byers
and Colorado
Education Solutions–pp. 13-16
Addenda—pp. 17-21
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It is the strangest arrangement I know
of in our state – a small rural district - serving about 500 students, authorizing
nine online multi-district charter schools, as it did in 2018-19. The Byers School District 32-J has been funded
the past three years for close to 3,000 students. Over 500 of those students attend
the district’s two school buildings: Byers Elementary and Byers Junior-Senior
High. The other 2,400 do not reside in Byers; they live across the state and
enroll in Byers’ online charter schools.
From CDE reports,
at Pupil Membership
|
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2016-17
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2017-18
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2018-19
|
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Byers Elementry
& Byers Jr/Sr High
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531 (39 pre-k)
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549 (43 pre-k)
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547 (49 pre-k)
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Online
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2,488
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2,323 (130 half-day K)
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2,369 (79 half-day K)*
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Total Enrolled
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3,019**
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2,872**
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2,916**
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*Addendum A presents the
complete enrollment at Byers’ 9 online charters last year. From CDE’s website.[i]
**Addendum B – At CDE’s website, “Public School
Finance Act of 1994,” we see a slightly different set of enrollment figures (total
of 2,889 in 16-17; 2,718 in 17-18; 2,766 in 18-19).[ii]
The rest of this newsletter will use those numbers, as the district also uses
these figures in its Adopted Budget.[iii]
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In March 2007, shortly
after completing his six years on the State Board of Education, Jared
Polis, along with State Senator Nancy Spence, co-chaired the Online
Education Task Force that produced the ONLINE EDUCATION INTERIM REPORT[iv].
By that time the online education option had existed for about a decade; online
schools enrolled over 8,200 students in 2006-07. That report stated:
Accountability is at the front and center
of reform efforts in education, and the task force agreed that, like all
public schools, online schools must comply with appropriate procedures in the
administration of public funds as well as with all applicable education,
health, safety, and civil rights laws. Accountability for academic growth,
operational accountability, and fiscal accountability are essential for
ensuring high quality educational services, serving the public interest, and
promoting the sector’s health. (Bold mine)
In
2018-19, of the 20,000 students enrolled in Colorado’s 49 online schools, over
16,600 were in 38 multidistrict online schools.[v] What follows is a case
study of one multi-district online network. I have asked questions of
the district authorizer and of the online network, but I have received no
response.
Current
policies are proving inadequate to allow for the proper oversight of these
schools. It is time for a new Task Force, one that will explore how to
ensure these schools are both accountable and transparent. (Bold mine)
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The far majority of the funds the
district receives from the state is sent to the network of the online schools, now
known as Colorado Education Solutions.[vi]
For example, according to the 2018-19 audit of the Byers School District, of
the State Equalization funds that came to Byers last year ($19,767,771), the
vast majority of that was then turned over to the network managing these nine
schools ($17,450,639). On average, Byers has received and turned over roughly
$17 million of taxpayer money to its online charter schools each of the past
three years.
From
the audits of the Byers School District[vii]
|
|
2016-17
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2017-18
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2018-19
|
|
State
Equalization
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$19,304,770
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$18,501,386
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$19,767,771
|
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Allocated
Revenue-Charter Schools
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$16,964,804
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$16,453,881
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$17,450,639
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2018-19 -
Enrollment at the three other multi-district
online charter schools: 6,722.
|
|
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GOAL Academy (Falcon
49)
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4,153
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Hope On-Line (Douglas
County)
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2,041
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TCA College Pathways
(Academy 20)
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528
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2018-19 - Enrollment at 3 of the 22
multi-district online schools.
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|
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Education Reenvisioned
BOCES
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2,475
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Col. Connections
Academy (Mapleton)
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2,270
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AIM Global (Las Animas
RE-1)
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1,708
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My study of the Byers’ online schools and the arrangement with Colorado Education Solutions should raise questions that go well beyond this one network. Add the 2018-19 enrollment at their nine schools to the 6,722 at the three other multi-district online schools (see box): we are talking about 9,000 students. And the 22 multi-district online schools that do not operate as charters enrolled another 10,000 students in 2018-19. Moreover, several issues I address here on the accountability and transparency of one network have been problematic for a number of our online schools for more than decade now.
4 broader policy questions:
·
Does Colorado
have the appropriate policies in statute that allow for sufficient state
oversight of our online charter schools? That ensure accountability from both
authorizers and their online charters?
|
Last spring Colorado legislators passed and
Gov. Jared Polis signed SB 129, Regulation of Online Schools, a
key step towards greater accountability of this sector.[viii]
I hope AV #205 reveals to policymakers concerned about these schools: there
is still more to do.
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·
What is the
responsibility of the charter authorizer/the district when it oversees online
schools serving students who are scattered across the state? How does the
authorizer or the state ensure academic progress when most students in their
online schools do
not take the state assessments? [ix]
(See Addendum E: Low Participation and/or Insufficient State
Data from all nine of Byers’ online charters.)
·
What is the role
of the state if the authorizer fails to
adequately oversee its online schools and demand
sufficient transparency regarding how the state funds are spent?
·
Do we need to
reinstate the expectation that online charters—like brick and mortar charter
schools—need to come up for a review every few years before earning a renewal?[x]
Again, while I focus on two areas
regarding Byers’ online schools and the arrangement with Colorado Education
Solutions, I present this merely as one example. The concerns transcend this
one instance.
I.
Academic
results (pages 3-7)
A.
Questions about
how the district oversees its online charters:
·
As the authorizer,
is the school board responsible for oversight of the quality of the education
of students in its online schools?
·
Upon seeing the disappointing
academic results, how has the district handled its role as authorizer? How
carefully has the Byers School District and the Byers School Board tracked the
academic performance of most students funded by the district—those
students who attend its online schools?
· Parent Excuses allow students to opt out of state
assessments. But schools are required to help students meet the state
standards. Last year the Byers School District reported 1,015 Parent Excuses
(mostly from the online schools) for non-participation in the states’ English Language
Arts test. Current policy allows for this. Are Byers’ online charter schools
still accountable for demonstrating academic progress?
B. Summarizes concerns that come from
the just-released Online Summary Report (December 2019) produced by the Office
of Blended and Online Learning at the Colorado
Department of Education. Objective data—and terribly troubling. See “Five
concerns regarding Byers’ online charter schools raised by this report,” pages
5-6. An added note here on one specific item in the report: the low graduation rates at many of the online schools.
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Byers
School District
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59%
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Englewood
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50.4%
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District
49 / Falcon
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48.8%
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Plateau
Valley
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46.1%
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Here is
an update, the 2019 results released by the state last month.
The graduation rate for Byers Junior-Senior
High School (91%) was an impressive 10 points above the state average
(81.1%), much as it was two years ago in 2016-17. In stark contrast, the
graduation rate for Byers’ online schools was between 23-30 points below the
state average.[xii]
As a result, CDE reports the graduation rate for the Byers School District as
among the lowest in the state.
II.
Lack
of transparency on finances (pages 7-11)
As shown above, $17 million a year in
the Byers School District budget has come from the State Equalization fund the
past three years, then redirected to the district’s online charter schools.
·
How does the Byers
School District, as the charter authorizer, handle its responsibility to ensure
financial transparency for how that $17 million is spent?
·
How does the Byers
School Board oversee how that $17 million is spent?
·
What does the
district and school board ask of Colorado Education Solutions in terms of
reports, presentations, audits? (NOTE: The 2018-19 audit for Colorado
Education Solutions is not yet available.)
·
Has Colorado
Education Solutions, the network receiving this $17 million, been transparent
in reporting how the money is spent? Does it follow Colorado law regarding
Financial Transparency? In revealing the names of its board and key staff? In
revealing who is paid and how much? (A related issue: Is the organization
expected to follow the Open Meetings Requirements of the Colorado Sunshine Law?
If so, does it?)
[ii] CDE’s Public School Finance Act of 1994 – Funding
Summary - http://www.cde.state.co.us/cdefinance/sfdetails
[iii] Byers School District -Adopted Budget – 2017, 2018,
2019 - https://www.byers32j.k12.co.us/ourdistrict/businessoffice/financialtransparency/
[v]
“Where
do Colorado’s online school students end up? Lawmakers want to know,” by Sandra Fish, March 4, 2019, Chalkbeat Colorado.https://www.chalkbeat.org/posts/co/2019/03/04/where-to-do-colorados-online-school-students-end-up-lawmakers-want-to-know/
[vi] Colorado
Educations Solutions appears to be the new name of this network. Another term
might be ColoradoEd (what we see at the website for several of these
schools: https://coda.coloradoed.org/
and https://cova.coloradoed.org/).
The network previously took the name Foundation Learning Colorado; the
network’s audits for 2016-17 and 2017-18 are found under that name.
[viii] “Where do Colorado’s online school students end up?
Lawmakers want to know,”
VERIFYING ENROLLMENT,
ATTENDANCE AND PARTICIPATION - PURSUANT TO 1 CCR 301-71-8.01 –
RULES FOR THE
ADMINISTRATION, CERTIFICATION, AND OVERSIGHT OF
COLORADO ONLINE PROGRAMS
Rule 8.01.01 of the Rules for the Administration,
Certification and Oversight of Colorado Online Programs, 1-CCR 301-71,
indicates for the 2015-16 school year and thereafter, authorizers must adopt
policies tracking student enrollment, attendance, and participation as set
forth in Rule 3.02.9 and may documents (sic) students’ attendance and
participation in educational activities in a manner the authorizer deems appropriate
to support student learning.
Acceptable forms of documentation include, but need not be limited to,
assessment, orientation, and induction activities, in-person educational
instruction; and synchronous and asynchronous internet-based educational
activities. (Bold mine.)
[x] When authorized by Adams 12 in its earlier existence,
Colorado Virtual Academy needed to produce a renewal application -over 40 pages
of information (Nov. 1, 2012) - see https://slidex.tips/download/covcs-inc-colorado-virtual-academy. To hold their online charters accountable, why
shouldn’t authorizers again require such reporting and documentation?
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2016-17
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2017-18
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2018-19
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STATE AVERAGE
|
79
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80.7
|
81.1
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BYERS - District
|
59
|
58
|
59
|
|
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|
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Byers Jr.-Sr. High
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91
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84
(27/32)
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91
(31/34)
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Byers’ online schools:
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· Colorado Virtual Academy (COVA)
|
54**
|
50**
(44/88)
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51
(61/120)
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· Elevate Academy
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54
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59
(16/27)
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54
(7/13)
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· Valiant Academy
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38
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47
(9/19)
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58
(14/24)
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*Most
numbers from Chalkbeat Colorado:
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