Monday, March 9th

And it is confirmed, I am going and so is JM. We are holding a rally at the steps of the capital building in support of virtual schooling. After the rally we are splitting up, from what I understand, into groups and hoping to go to legislator's offices to garner support for virtual schools.

In our chat group, several legislators have responded to some parent's letters. And it's been interesting. The head of the Department of Education gave a slick, political answer. The mom who received it was all happy that she got a letter showing support for virtual schools from such a high official. Ummmm.....no, it was political smoke once several of us caught her verbage. Her verbage was "we look forward to finding common ground (are you gagging yet?) for virtual schools in Oregon. Keeping our tax dollars away from for-profit companies......"

Her innuendo is that she is supporting Oregon's virtual school, NOT Connections Academy (CA) because, allegedly, it is for profit. It isn't. The Oregon run CA is run by a non-profit board out of Scio, OR. It has complied with all rules and regulations to exist as a non-profit entity, recognized by the state. Oregon's CA does however, use CA (nationwide) resources for it's curriculum. Just like public schools would need to purchase books, materials, resources from for-profit companies, so would Oregon's CA.

If we were to hold that standard to regular schools, then they would not be able to purchase pencils, paper, books, telephones, fax machines, or computers. I do not know of any company that is non-profit that sells those products. Let me know if you do, I am sure this woman would love to know.

And honestly?? What in the world does her rhetoric have to do with the renewal of a charter? A charter that was recognized as having perpetuity four years ago. If that is the concern, why is this being hammered out as a renewal of the charter? Why wasn't this for-profit vs. non-profit brought up as a concern in 2005? It's a political figure blowing smoke at an issue.

Another legislator answered in one sentence to a parent "I am sorry, I support public schools." A little rude, but at least he didn't blow smoke. CA is a public school! It is part of Scio, OR's public school system. It hires teachers based upon Oregon's teaching qualifications. It isn't a private school, and for this man to give such a narrow minded, one sentence answer, tells me he doesn't have any smoke to blow because he isn't knowledgeable on the issue. It also tells me some teacher union lobbyist has been contributing to his campaign recently.

We also got a letter from a homeschooling official in California. She is urging us to take on this fight because again, this could set precedents for other states, and California just went through a scary thing like this over homeschooling. California is paying close attention to this.

Also, if the Department of Education gets a grab on virtual schools with this kind of heavy handed ruling, then watch out traditional homeschoolers in Oregon! You heard the guy "I support public schools." The next jab will be at legislating traditional homeschoolers.

Seriously, if anyone wants to take a day out of their schedule next Monday to join me for the rally, please consider yourself invited. You do not have to be a virtual school parent or student. This is a rally of support.