Neal McCluskey, Center for Education Reform
January 2002
For historians of education, 1991 will stand out as the year the world of education was turned upside down. As is often the case with revolutions, it is only through the perspective of time that we can really appreciate just how dramatic these happenings really were. In 1991, computer programmers at the University of Minnesota came up with the Internet protocol "gopher," and thus were born the ubiquitous Internet and World Wide Web that are now part of our daily lives. That same year, the Minnesota State Legislature passed the country's first charter school law. A decade later, we can see that these seemingly disconnected events have spawned an educational movement that has the power to deliver high quality instructional services to all learners regardless of time, place, and personal background. Education is no longer synonymous with the neighborhood school. In his short report "Beyond Brick and Mortar," Neal McCluskey, a policy analyst for the Center for Education Reform, tracks this history and what it means for today's students, parents, and the education establishment. He notes that there are now 30 "cyber charter schools" operating in 12 states. Those who have benefited most from these on-line schools are home-schoolers and children unable to attend traditional schools because of physical or emotional disabilities. Those who feel most threatened by them are the people who run school districts made up of buildings, buses, teachers and administrators. They see these cyber charters as taking their pupils and their money, and they don't much like it. Hence they've been struggling to scuttle cyber charters through legislative and legal action. In the spring of 2001, the Pennsylvania School Boards Association (PSBA) filed a lawsuit challenging the requirement that districts release funds for their students to enroll in cyber charters. In May a judged ruled against the PSBA, and the Keystone State has seen a boom in its cyber charter population. Meanwhile a related case is heating up in Ohio. While the outcome of the larger battle cannot be foretold with confidence, it is clear that change is underway. For more information, see http://edreform.com/press/2002/cyber_charters.htm, or order a hard copy of the report for $3 by calling CER at 202-822-9000 or visiting http://www.edreform.com/pubs/index.html.
